Fragments
by kiraiakuma
Summary: Every ending is a new beginning, and often the endings of different stories come together for a new one. But this one might have some rather worrying implications for the world.
1. There go the neigborhoods

Fragments

-o-

There go the neighborhoods

-o-

Part One: Naruto

Naruto smiled weakly, as he looked at Sasuke. Who simply stared back, a slight frown on his face.

"Told you," Naruto coughed wetly, "we would both die."

One of Sasuke's eyes twitched. He didn't give any other indication that he heard Naruto.

Naruto wondered why he didn't hear Sakura, who had been watching the fight. Usually she would be screaming bloody murder at them...

"Well, not quite how I planned it, but well within my contingency plans." Madara said, casually strolling towards the young men, who had their fists embedded in each other.

Naruto struggled weakly, desperately trying to face the new threat. Sasuke, on the other hand, smiled darkly. A bloody chuckle escaping his lips.

"You see Naruto," Madara continued. "I don't need you to be, strictly speaking, alive. A state of suspended animation, on the edge of death works just fine. Better even." The man smiled behind his mask, Naruto could just tell.

"The fact that Sasuke died with you? Quite the bonus really. He did become somewhat annoying. But he played his part admirably."

Naruto growled at Madara, how dare he?

Sasuke chuckled again.

"You..." He coughed up blood all over Naruto. "You... think... I didn't plan this?" He rasped out.

"What?" Madara and Naruto both asked, and looked at Sasuke., who had his Sharingan spinning wildly.

"You were just as guilty as Konoha Madara." He chuckled. "You think I would let you win?"

And suddenly Naruto and Sasuke stood before the Kyuubi, still mortally wounded, still too weak to move, but Sasuke didn't seem bother by it at all.

"Hey fox. You want to live?" He asked, the rasp gone, even though the chest-wound remained.

"What do you think Uchiha?" The fox growled.

"Got a way for you to escape then. You remember Kakashi's kamui?" Sasuke asked.

"What the hell are you doing bastard?" Naruto interrupted the two of them, but neither bothered to answer him.

"Yeah... you want to use that eh?" The fox watched the young man in front of him.

"I need your power for it though. Ripping a hole into reality... not easy. Not easy at all." Sasuke answered. Naruto struggled uselessly. He couldn't move at all, the sharingan keeping him in place.

"Hahahaha." The fox grinned with far too many teeth at the Uchiha. "It would destroy vast tracks of land, that plan of yours. Ripping a hole into reality... and this close to Konoha..."

Sasuke shrugged. "All part of the plan."

"Very well, I agree. Send me away, maybe I'll even be free of the brat then!"

Sasuke nodded, as the Kyuubi's evil chakra rushed him.

"No! What the hell are you doing?" Naruto demanded, finally wrenching himself free from Sasuke's mental hold.

But Sasuke didn't answer, instead he looked at the Kyuubi. His eyes spinning, bleeding freely now, and totally red.

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed, as he jumped between his rival and the Kyuubi.

Then Sasuke released whatever technique he was using and everything went black.

-o-

Sasuke gasped, as he fell backwards, away from Naruto's corpse, which also fell backwards. In between them, a black sphere had opened, energy seemed to seep from it like blood from a wound.

"What did you do Sasuke." Madara whispered, staring at the sphere in horror.

"Destroyed your plans, you and Konoha." Sasuke whispered, before the hole in reality erupted in a shock-wave, washing over the remains of Konoha, ripping any living or nonliving thing apart.

-o-

Naruto gasped as he woke up. He frantically looked around, but Sasuke was nowhere to be seen...

In fact, he appeared to be in his bedroom... if an exploding tag had hit it.

"What? What happened?" He muttered, slowly, wobbly getting out of his bed.

His gaze fell on the calender, where a red cross marked the day as: "Today! Genin Exams! Gonna Kick Ass!"

Naruto starred at it for a few seconds, then ran to the window, to stare at the Hokage Monument.

The Monument with only four heads, instead of five.

"No way, no way, no way, no way..." He repeated over and over again, falling backwards.

-o-

Part Two: Sasuke

Sasuke stood against Madara, flanked by Naruto and Sakura. All three of them were bleeding profoundly, however Madara was at the end of his rope as well. He was breathing heavy and his clothes were torn in various places, displaying wounds that would have killed lesser men.

"Give up Madara. There's no way you can win against us." Sasuke taunted. "The Hokage is cleaning up your little war. The other villages have brought your precious statue under their control."

He charged the madman in front of him. Punctuating his next words with punches and kicks. "And we will. Beat. You!"

Sakura and Naruto were holding back, only helping when necessary, this was his battle, his ancestor, that had tried again and again, to bring the Uchiha down and to destroy Konoha.

From the moment he send the Kyuubi out to attack Konoha, in the hopes that the Uchiha would be blamed.

They would have too, if Sasuke's father hadn't sacrificed himself and Sasuke, in order to bring the Uchiha closer to Konoha and bridge whatever gaps Madara had managed to create with his scheming.

Sasuke called on the power of the Kyuubi. With his eyes, he had incredible control over it, even with the Kyuubi uncooperative.

He could see Madara's eye widen, as he tore out one of his arms.

Sasuke hated the fact that, even with his amazing control he still enjoyed the violence and bloodshed. But that was the price for this kind of power.

"You will die now Madara!" He screamed, ripping into Madara again and again.

Until he heard a chuckle from behind.

"You think it would be that easy?" Madara growled. Most of the wounds he had a few seconds ago were present. However, none Sasuke had caused in the last few seconds were.

"You may have beaten me Sasuke. You may have stopped my plans." Madara spat, Sasuke's eyes widened in horror.

"But don't think it didn't come at a price!" Madara shook the corpses of Sakura and Naruto.

"How?" Sasuke muttered, as the fox coat dissipated into nothingness.

"How could you?"

Madara fell to his knees. "If you are willing to die brat, you can accomplish the greatest of deeds."

And Madara's Sharingan sprang back into full force, sending a wave of pitch black fire at Sasuke.

Sasuke could see Madara fall over, slack and lifeless. Before the fire coated him in agony.

-o-

He found himself in the dungeons that represented his mind. The Kyuubi safely behind the bars of it's prison.

"Well brat. Seems we are going to die, just like your little friends." It chuckled. "All that power you stole from me, only to die like that. Pathetic."

Sasuke didn't rise to the bait. He simply slumped to the ground in despair. Naruto and Sakura were death. How would he explain that to Hinata? Or Sakura's mother? He promised he would keep them save! He promised!

"Brat!" The Kyuubi rumbled. "I have no intention of dying."

Sasuke didn't react, at all.

"Bah, then die. I'm sure your friends won't hold it against you, failing to save them that is." 

Sasuke looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Hehehe, though that would catch your attention." The fox rattled in his chains, attempting to strech a claw out of his prison.

"Those eyes of yours, they have some control over time and space, don't they?" He asked.

Sasuke nodded numbly. With Itachi's and the Hokage's help he had gained quite a bit of control over both his eyes and time space ninjutsu.

"Well, if I give you all of my power, all at once... I think we can return to the past with your eyes."

"We can? You really think we can?" Sasuke, knew that there had to be a catch. But then again, the Kyuubi had always professed that it would live to be free of it's cage one day. If he died now though... and it was a chance to save his friends. To prevent Madara from killing them.

If he had just paid a little bit more attention. If he had been a little bit more careful.

"Of course I can brat. I'm more than powerful enough to power a simple jutsu like that. The only question is whether you can pull it off fast enough. We are currently burning alive after all. And what would your friends say if they knew you failed to save them because you were too slow?"

Sasuke glared at the fox as his sharingan flared to life, the tomoe spinning madly. "I'm ready bastard. Just give me your chakra!" He growled.

"Fine, here it is!" The fox somehow managed to shrug. As a gigantic wave of chakra slammed into Sasuke.

Sasuke screamed in agony as the chakra burned through his veins and the fire of Amaterasu, suddenly made itself known, now that the buffer of his mind-scape disappeared.

Still he persevered, forming the chakra, even through the black haze, miraculously his eyes hadn't been touched by the fire that had reduced most of his skin to ash already.

In a last agonizing push he released the jutsu, pushing through the boundary only he could see.

It shattered, and for the split second that he was aware of it, he felt that something had gone quite catastrophically wrong.

-o-

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked around.

He was alone, in a small spartan apartment.

Nothing at all like his home in the clan compound.

His eyes fell on a calendar, a small mark indicated that today... or yesterday, he wasn't entirely sure, was the genin entrance exam.

Slowly he got up and walked around the room, searching for any hint on what was going on or where he ended up.

"Dammit fox, what did you do to me?" He muttered to himself.

-o-

Part Three: Sakura

-o-

Sakura smiled at the little dog as it sniffed around the dusty floor of the building.

"Come here little doggie, come here." She cooed.

The dog turned it's head to the side and regarded her for a second. It backed off, when it heard a low growl coming from Sakura's direction, before it continued to sniff the ground.

Sakura frowned, then shook her head ruefully. "Oh well, not as if it matters." Sakura muttered, before flinging a kunai at the dog, severing it's spine from the head.

"Dinner time!" She crowed, scampering over to collect her prize.

-o-

Madara brooded over several scrolls, his plan nearly complete. All he had to do was wait, and hope Haruno managed to collect what he send her out to get.

A second later the door to his lab flew open and the smell of burned meat invaded his nose.

He turned around, Haruno Sakura strode in, a bottle of some sort of alcoholic beverage in one hand, the burnt remains of some animal, Madara narrowed his eyes, dog apparently, in the other.

Haruno noticed his stare and narrowed her eyes in return. "That's my meat, go catch your own." She growled like an animal.

Madara decided to ignore his own empty stomach. If she had what he send her for it would be over in a few minutes anyway.

"Was that all you caught? Or did you bring me what I send you for." He asked exasperated. Not that he believed she didn't have it. No matter how much of a drunken bitch she was, she did finish her missions.

Sakura rolled her eyes, which did interesting things to her face, it highlighted her scars quite nicely, if he had still been affected by things like that, he probably would have thrown up.

"Of course I have it asshole." She ripped a piece of meat of the carcass and washed it down with a swig of... whatever the bottle contained. Maybe paint thinner. If she found some somewhere.

Then she put the bottle down and threw him a few vials of a murky red liquid.

"There, that was all I could find in Orochimaru's labs."

He looked at the bottles wearily. It should be enough, over the years he had improved his chakra control beyond anything he once thought possible.

"Good, then everything is ready. Just sit down here, while I prepare the jutsu." He took a deep breath, almost immediately regretting it. It had been said, before the last war, when there where still people alive to work with, or attack Haruno, that her breath should count as a weapon. And that she didn't need any chakra for the grand fireball technique.

In close proximity Madara was inclined to agree. He figured the only reason Haruno didn't keel over, from alcohol poisoning, was the fact that the alcohol preserved her. Like a brain in one of Orochimaru's jars or something.

He opened the vials Haruno had brought. And quickly downed them. The vials were killing him, even as they supplied him with chakra equal to one of the tailed beast... well the 4 tails at least.

Not that it mattered if he lived or died, if he succeeded he would be killed from the backlash of punching a hole into reality. If not... well there wasn't really anything left to live for, so no loss there as well.

Haruno just sat in the circle, munching her meat, drinking her... alcohol. Not saying a word.

Some would have found her disgusting. Madara found her admirable. Even know, after three major ninja wars, loosing every person she ever called a friend, or cared for. Having watched Uzumaki Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha kill each other in the event that triggered the first of the last three ninja wars...

She still managed to maintain a thin layer of humanity. A very thin layer admittedly but she did maintain it.

His single sharingan flared to life, for the briefest of seconds. After it closed again he couldn't see the black eclipse that occupied the space Haruno's head had occupied a second ago.

He didn't notice it expand and reduce the underground fortress and his lab to ash, as well as the wasteland that stretched for several thousand miles above it.

-o-

Haruno Sakura woke up and came to a realization. She was sober.

The shakes set in almost immediately. As well as the memories. Faces, voices, screams... she forced the cacophony down, and brought the shakes under control. It was just till she managed to find a bar, she woodenly made her way to the window.

And a smile, the first one that wasn't a carefully faked mask in over 10 years, crept on her face.

"Booze," She whispered. "Real booze. Not the bloody tainted stuff I have to make from... well garbage and... stuff."

She looked around, pinpointing the wallet that belonged to the previous inhabitant of this body... or was that herself... eh who cared, the body was hers now.

She stopped in front of the full body mirror and watched herself for a second. A weak, frail child stared back. No rings under her eyes, no scars ripping her face in half, no repeatedly broken nose.

She was pretty!

She nearly laughed at the thought. As if it mattered.

Still she had money, she slammed her hands into the seals for henge and a twenty something woman had replaced the frail girl.

She appeared to be an adult. And, most importantly, she had several bars with decent alcohol available. And she supposed a body with zero alcohol-tolerance. Well she would just have to work on that, the medical jutsu to limit the effects of alcohol on the body should still work, they only required chakra control, and a slight drain on her reserves. It would be good training, certainly.

-o-

Part Four: Kyuubi

The fox growled at the intruder. The intruder, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere in his cell.

The appearing out of nowhere didn't faze the fox, this wasn't the real world after all. And even there...

But the fact that somebody would dare to appear in reach of his paws? It almost made him want to smile.

"Kehkehkeh, looks like a tasty..." He whirled around, another presence had just appeared, feeling exactly like the last one. And both had something achingly familiar about them.

"Well, blast. Seems I'm still trapped in this prison." One of the newcomers muttered to himself. And what a handsome and dashing self it was...

The fox roared in a furry. "How dare you take on my body?" He swiped his claws at the imposter, but the other fox lazily raised his own paw and blocked the attack.

"Eh that was kinda disappointing." He smirked at the original. "I expected a bit more from myself. Oh well, I suppose being trapped in a weak brat with no escape does limit your capabilities somewhat."

The original found that, for the first time he could remember he felt empathy with the lesser beings he destroyed so casually. He shook his head, and roared again. He would show whoever was in front of him what it meant to anger the Kyuubi.

He reared back his paw, claws drawn. But another set of claws slammed into his neck, severing his head from his body, dissipating him! Whoever they were, killed...

-o-

The Kyuubi lazily watched the original inhabitant of this prison fade, he didn't bother collecting the memories. He could gather what he needed to know from the host.

Instead he focused his attention on the other Kyuubi in this cage.

"Well, well, well." This one drawled. "It seems our host decided to leave suddenly." A maddened grin spread over it's lips, making it look like the most handsome and noble demon to ever walk the earth, sowing death and destruction.

"Only one left to kill then." The Kyuubi agreed.

"Yes." And without warning the second Kyuubi attacked, a vicious slash, followed by a snap for his throat. Easily deflected of course.

One didn't reach his level of power without learning a thing or two about fighting. Ok that was a lie, the only way to reach his divine perfection was by being born with it.

He dodged another swipe and brought his own claws down in a slash that should have taken the enemy's head clear off. Instead the handsome specimen of demonic magnificence managed to dodge easily.

"Kuhkuhkuh." It chuckled. "We seem to be at an impasse here. Neither of us will be able to beat the other, we are too similar."

He chuckled at that, the other him had it right.

"True. Maybe we should call a truce. Together we should be able to burn the seal to tinder and escape this rotten prison."

Both demons smiled at each other, as they crept closer.

"Yes, so a truce." The other one whispered, looking at him, admiration filling it's eyes.

He nodded, preparing to snap his head up and rip the throat out of the fool who had let him come so close.

He realized his folly when the other snapped it's jaw around his neck and bit.

-o-

The Kyuubi laughed deeply as it savored the taste of the defeated mind. Now it alone had dominion over this sewer. And nobody, no matter how close to it's perfection they came... especially if they came close to it's perfection, would dare challenge it.

Footsteps alerted it to somebody arriving. It turned it's head, expecting the Uchiha brat to storm in and demand to know what was going on. But the brat would be...

"What did he do?" The blond that stood in front of him demanded angrily. "Where are we? What happened?"

Maybe collecting the memory of the other two would have been prudent? Oh well.

"Why should I tell you brat?" He asked. "Maybe if you released me from this prison."

"Never!"

Well worth a try. He had nothing if not time.

"Then get out. I won't talk." He grinned at the human, it always managed to intimidate the Uchiha... somewhat at least.

Didn't work so well on this one though.

His entire face twitched in barely suppressed rage. Quite amusing really.

"I will find out what you did. And I will stop whatever plan you or Sasuke hatched!" He growled, before disappearing.

If only he had a plan, beyond escape and hope for the best. He faded into the background. Oh well, opportunities would present themselves soon enough. Until then he would just have to wait.

-o-

Part Five: Humble Beginnings

Naruto growled as he walked through the streets of Konoha, whole and undamaged.

He didn't pay attention to the people who first glared, then backed off. If this was indeed the past. And he had no idea how the Uchiha had managed it, if it was. Then it was to be expected that people hated him. No big deal, he could win them over again.

No what bothered him was the Kyuubi. Specifically what it hoped to gain by doing this. It had been trapped still, so what... he shook his head.

He should stop over-thinking. Sasuke had offered a way to escape certain dead or worse to the Kyuubi and it took the chance.

He had briefly thought about this being a genjutsu by Sasuke, but almost immediately dismissed the idea. It just wasn't Sasuke's style. He might torture you if it gained him a clear advantage, but he preferred to simply kill his enemies.

Sasuke... he would be here too. Maybe even the one from his world.

He growled again and noticed in amusement that people backed off, whispering fearfully.

He took a deep breath. If he wanted them to accept him, he would have to stop brooding... he could end up like Sasuke that way.

So he forced the angry frown off his face and replaced it with his easy smile.

People almost immediately regarded him with... well the same hate, but also relief and maybe a bit of respect. Ok, he was imagining that last one, but he was allowed to dream right?

He entered the academy, ignored everybody who smirked at him, oh so sure he would fail again.

He had to fight his own demented smirk down at the thought of that. There was just no way he would fail. Mizuki be damned.

As he reached for the door to his classroom he hesitated. He would see Sasuke again. The same man who had killed him not even an hour ago.

Killed him and send him here, whenever here was.

He shook his head, no he wouldn't see that man. He would see the boy that one day might become that man.

"Naruto!" A hauntingly familiar voice screamed. A bit more high pitched than an hour ago. But unmistakeably Sasuke.

Naruto whirled around, reaching for a kunai. If he had followed him to finish him off...

He was tackled hugged by a wide eyed Uchiha, tears flowing freely from his eyes. "Oh god I thought you were dead, and the fox said I could save you, and I was burning and Madara killed you and Sakura and my clan is gone, just gone nobody around at all..."

Naruto's thoughts ground to a halt... he had a hysterical Uchiha hanging from his chest! What. The. Hell?

Sasuke looked up, his face locked in a mixture of hope, terror and relief. A lot of students were staring at the two of them in utter confusion.

Naruto knew how they felt.

He couldn't help but glare down at the boy... luckily he was kinda hanging off him, otherwise that would have been very difficult. God he hated his height as a kid.

"Madara didn't kill me, you did." He growled at the boy, who most definitely wasn't the Sasuke from this time, that left only the Sasuke from his own time.

Sasuke shrank back as if hit. "No! I didn't... I couldn't. I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough!" He sobbed, sobbed!

Ok new working theory. That's what you were supposed to do when your first theory didn't hold up right?

This wasn't any Sasuke he knew, because no Sasuke he knew, young or old would ever let himself be caught crying.

"Err, ok maybe you didn't." He tried to placate the sobbing wreck, that at least in the minds of everybody around should be the strongest and most stoic student this year.

"No, I know I did. If I had been faster, just a little bit faster I could have saved you and Sakura. I promised Hinata that I would keep you safe! But... but..." Naruto had the distinct feeling that Sasuke would start hurting himself soon if he didn't do anything. Maybe let the fangirls loose on him. Maybe he would consider it appropriate punishment.

Naruto briefly wondered why he was taking this all so calmly. But then he always rolled with the punches and besides, he was in shock, yeah, that probably was it, shock. Once he had time to assess the situation...

"There was nothing you could do." He placed a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder, who looked up at him with red eyes, not form the Sharingan but form crying. "And hey second chance right?"

At least if his second theory proofed correct. The only explanation he could think of for the complete shift of personality was that this wasn't his Sasuke at all. And since he had traveled back in time... maybe somebody else could as well.

But how would this Sasuke be so different then?

Ok he had no idea what was going on, but it seemed his words had calmed Sasuke.

"You are right, this time I'll be stronger." Sasuke looked down. "But I... I don't have the Kyuubi anymore." He whispered. Looking around to make sure nobody had heard.

Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke had the Kyuubi... ok he was officially freaked out.

"Err..." He also couldn't come up with a reply.

"I don't know where it is, anybody could have it now. And I couldn't go to your father... not after I got you killed..."

His father... how the hell could Sasuke go to his father?

"Anyway, let's find Sakura! We can think of a plan together then!" Sasuke seemed to cheer right up at announcing his plan.

"No need." The voice chilled Naruto to the bones. That could just be the killing intent though. The last time he faced killing intent like that... shit he had never felt killing intent like that.

It wasn't like Sasuke or Orochimaru, they had a cold kind of killing intent, kinda like ice freezing you to death.

This killing intent burned you to the core. Kinda like the Kyuubi actually, just human, frighteningly human.

He turned around, Sakura stood there, a bottle in her left hand, a kunai in the other and glaring death and damnation at him.

"I advise you to keep away from me Uchiha, Uzumaki. Or I might just decide to end your miserable lives right here, right now." She spat at them.

"Now out of my way."

Both boys practically jumped away from the door, giving her ample room to pass them.

Once the door closed behind her, with a loud bang as she slammed it shut, Naruto dared to breath again.

"That... that was..." He said.

"Yeah." Sasuke stuttered.

The few boys and girls around them, that could still stand that is, looked as if the world had gone horribly horribly wrong. And Naruto was inclined to agree with them. He had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on. At all.

"You go first." Sasuke pushed him to the door.

"Me? Why don't you go first, she likes you!" Naruto switched positions with the reluctant Uchiha.

"Are you kidding? She wanted to kill me just now!" Sasuke somehow managed to worm his way around Naruto and push him to the door.

"Yeah well, me too? I'm too young to die! Again!" Naruto punched the Uchiha in the head and forced him to the front again.

"And I'm not?" Sasuke abandoned any attempt to force Naruto to open the door. Instead he tried to beat the shit out of Naruto.

Naruto grinned wildly, finally something that made sense!

"Sasuke!" He growled, charging.

"Naruto!" Sasuke replied, rearing back his fist.

"What the hell you two?" Iruka shouted, grabbing both of them. "What the hell do you think you are doing in the middle of the hall? You scarred the other kids shi... err you scarred them spit-less."

Naruto looked at some of the quivering wrecks Sakura's little display had left. "No I'm very sure they are scarred shit-less Iruka." He replied with raised eyebrow.

Iruka followed his gaze, then glared at him. "What did you do?" He asked.

"Nothing! It was Sakura!" Sasuke interjected.

Iruka stared at the boy, disbelieve etched onto his face. "Sakura Haruno? Did this?" He waved at the terrified students.

"Yes?" Naruto ventured carefully.

"You expect me to believe that?" Iruka glared at the boys.

"Yes?" Sasuke asked doubtfully.

"Detention! Both of you!" Iruka shouted.

-o-

Sakura glowered at everybody in the classroom, who so much as dared to look her way.

Damn, seeing those two utter bastards pissed her off. And just after she had a pleasant buzz going.

She looked at the beer in her hand. The perfect starter for a body that hadn't yet gotten used to alcohol. Easy to flush the worst of the poison out of the system and leave only the parts that impaired her brain.

After all, she had just survived a world gone to hell and back, because Uzumaki and Uchiha couldn't make up their minds on who would rule the world.

Fucking lunatics.

"What the hell forehead? Why did you bang the door like that? Realized you are too ugly for oof..."

Ino's rant was interrupted by a well executed tackle hug from Sakura.

"Ino! Oh god I mis..." Sakura looked at the girl beneath her, who looked at her as if she had a second head.

"Err I mean..." Shit, seeing Ino alive again. She should have been prepared for it. But her thoughts had circled only around the delicious, delicious beer. And sake, and all the other yummy stuff in the bar.

She was certain that Madara had killed her. And despite everything she went to heaven. Apparently even massive slaughter could be forgiven.

"Sakura? Is there a reason you are straddling me?" Ino growled, trying to pry Sakura off her.

"Of course there is... Ino baby." Sakura purred.

Ino's eyes widened first in surprise, then horror, as her attempts to dislodge Sakura turned frantic.

"Ohh yeah touch me more." Sakura encouraged the blond girl beneath her. Before she pulled a new bottle from one of her pouches.

Ino stopped moving almost immediately, pale like a ghost.

"Aww, why did you stop Ino? I was having soo much fun." Sakura blew Ino a kiss.

Ino didn't even twitch.

Laughing Sakura got up. She couldn't remember a time when Ino could be flustered so easily.

"Come on Ino. Up you go." She hauled Ino to her feet, and led her to a desk. Ino followed unresisting.

"Honestly! Expecting me to believe that Sakura scared those kids like that." Iruka entered the room, shaking his head. "I know you only have one day left of the academy. But don't think that means I can't give you detention. Now stay here while I get the test papers!"

Sakura growled in his direction. The two greatest murderers to be and she didn't dare do anything. But she could wait, if they slept... no Sarutobi would keep a watch on his precious Jinchuriku. Never mind Danzo, there was no way in hell root would dare risk Uzumaki.

Same with the goddamn Uchiha. If she didn't want to die painfully tortured, she would have to be smart about this. Maybe on a mission... yeah, that could work. She could kill them on a mission.

"Sasuke!" Ino tackled the boy and positioned him between her and Sakura. "Save me!" She begged.

"Wha? Save you from who?" He asked, clueless.

"Sakura! She was molesting me!" Ino screeched.

Oh what sweet music.

The Uchiha and Uzumaki duo stared, first at Ino then at Sakura. She glared at them and ran her hand over her throat.

Sasuke looked at Ino, then at Sakura again. Sakura licked her lips suggestively, rubbing her stomach. He would probably taste good with the right sauce.

The Uchiha paled and hid behind Ino.

"Sorry, she wants to kill me. No way am I getting between you and her. No matter how beautiful you are." He smiled at Ino for the briefest of seconds.

Sakura's vision turned red. That little shit wouldn't take Ino away to do his sick and twisted bidding.

She strode towards the little waste of flesh who was backing away from her rapidly. Ino had simply fainted in terror upon feeling Sakura's killing intent.

Uzumaki had hid somewhere, she could smell him. And Iruka, he had nearly reached the room again.

"Keep your dirty hands off Ino Uchiha, otherwise I'll make sure you can't even touch yourself anymore." She growled at him.

Sasuke nodded frantically, terror written all over his face.

Satisfied Sakura grabbed Ino and returned to her place, as far away from Sasuke and Naruto as possible.

The door opened just as she had set Ino down again.

Iruka had a stack of papers under his arm and a slight smile on his face.

The smile slipped the second he saw the terrified and unconscious children all over the room.

He almost immediately rounded on Sasuke and Naruto, the only ones who seemed relatively unaffected...

Sakura blinked through the tirade. Why were they unaffected anyway? Her killing intent was far more potent than even Orochimaru's had been in the forest of death. And that had shaken both of them badly.

This? Sasuke hadn't been scarred by the killing intend, he had been scarred of her.

She frowned and looked at them again, they were the same little brats she remembered... no not quite. Sasuke carried himself with... with a sort of peace... with a peace she didn't remember him having.

Naruto on the other hand had enough confidence, if you could harness confidence he could probably power an entire bijuu incubator battery by himself.

And not just the false bravado kind of confidence, he possessed the real deal, the one you worked an entire lifetime for if you weren't a genius like the Uchiha, or him.

Damn, she would have to interact with them... well she would have anyway, once they were assigned the same team, but still...

"Sakura! Are you listening?" Iruka glared at her form across the room.

"Yes sensei?" She took a gulp from her bottle. While sweet and soft, the beer just didn't quite pack the punch she needed. She would have to upgrade to sake soon.

"Were you responsible for... whatever happened here?" He asked.

"Of course not." She replied, she wouldn't take the blame for Uchiha's and Uzumaki's mess.

"It's their fault!" She pointed at the boys. "They had to start trouble." Poor innocent Ino, nearly seduced into the clutches of these monsters.

"Actually..." A brave boy raised his hands and Iruka turned to him.

Briefly Sakura met the eyes of the boy. He gulped, loosing all color.

"Actually they totally started it sensei." He shivered.

Iruka blinked, then nodded and rounded on Sasuke and Naruto, who looked at Sakura as if she had grown a second head.

She for her part pulled Ino closer to her. She had to protect the girl, no way would she allow her to die again. At least not before herself.

-o-

Sasuke didn't understand why Sakura apparently hated him... and Naruto, even if she had ample reason to hate him, she had none to hate Naruto for. He didn't fail to protect her... well actually if she died first...

Well that explained that. And she probably wouldn't just forgive and forget like Naruto. She could hold a grudge.

Still, his charms would win her over, hopefully. Especially the way she held Ino, if she suddenly admitted to her other leanings bedtime fun had just gotten so much more interesting.

He grinned lecherously. That is till Iruka started lecturing him again. Tuning him out was easy though, so all he had to do was nod every now and again and say yes Iruka sensei. Like a woman really.

Only women tended to beat the shit out of you if they noticed, so not...

Iruka's fist connected firmly with Sasuke's head.

Ok exactly like a woman. Maybe he should mention that to Naruto.

"Sasuke are you listening at all?" Iruka screamed at him.

The rest of the class looked at Sasuke as if he was insane or something. Only Naruto and Sakura didn't look like that.

Naruto frowned, obviously thinking and Sakura glared, groping Ino.

And what a beautiful image that presented. He knew he should listen to Iruka, but he couldn't stop his mind from wandering.

"I give up. Here's your test paper Sasuke, you have three hours detention after class." Iruka muttered, shaking his head.

"Wonder what the hell is wrong with him... and if this is actually an improvement." Sasuke heard Iruka whisper to himself, while walking away and handing out the papers to the other students.

Sasuke flew over the questions. Easy enough, with Sakura's help he had aced them the first time. Even Naruto had managed a decent grade.

He looked at his two friends... hopefully still friends. Well, Naruto had already started to forgive him. Probably because they had a second chance now. And even Sakura couldn't stay angry forever... right?

He had to suppress a snort, as he watched their faces. Both looked at their papers with disdain. However the source of their disdain couldn't be more diverse.

Naruto simply hated the paperwork itself. He always considered it a waste of his time. Probably because his father spend as much time complaining about the paperwork as he did.

Sakura on the other hand would consider the questions on the paper as beneath her notice.

He noticed that Ino had regained consciousness and escaped from Sakura's area of influence. Pity that.

He sighed as he focused his attention on the paper again. He might not know what happened, or why he had been granted this second chance. However he would do his best to keep his friends save and to make his clan proud.

-o-

Naruto glared at the paper. Not because the question were particularly hard, or because it would waste precious time, he glared because he had no idea what to do.

On the one hand, he could ace the test, easy. He had gained more than enough knowledge in his years on the road to pass this test with ease. On the other if he did that he may not end up on Team 7.

Then there was Mizuki. And, more importantly, Naruto learning Shadow clones. He could probably fake his way through the test. If he filled out a few questions at random. But at some point he would have to explain where he learned the dangerous technique.

He glanced at Sakura, who took another drag from the bottle she carried with her, then resumed glaring at her paper.

A second later she started writing, fast and furious with a lot of anger.

He looked around the class, people were still trembling from her earlier display of killing intent.

And he didn't blame them, only S-Class missing Nin gave off as much killing intent. And only the fox managed to give off more.

No wonder they couldn't just shake it off.

His attention wandered to Sasuke. What did he mean, when he said the fox wasn't in him anymore?

Naruto sighed and looked at the paper. He would have to ask the Uchiha. There was a silver-lining however. Sasuke seemed to regard him as a friend. A good one too and one he had failed, not by killing, but by not protecting him enough.

That decided it, he would do just well enough to pass... scratch that, he would fail, it would be easier to explain where he knew the shadowclones from and he could bag Mizuki in the process.

-o-

Sakura glared at the test. She should have expected it, really. But still, this was beneath her. She could have answered the questions in a drug induced stupor while simultaneously killing a few enemy infiltrators.

Bah, she scrabbled the answers down. If she wanted a chance to kill the two bastards, however weird they were, she would have to be on their team. And the only way to get on their team, was to be the best kunoichi in the class.

Not exactly difficult, but annoying.

Ino had distanced herself from Sakura, which suited Sakura just fine. She didn't want to get too close to Ino. She would protect the girl with all she had, yes. But if she got close... she would fail. No matter how long she would managed to succeed, at some point she would fail. A fact of life.

And maybe, just maybe it would cost Ino her life. Sakura took a deep gulp from the bottle. If she got close to Ino again... she might not be able to go on living. And she wouldn't give up. She had sacrificed too much to give up now.

Shaking she concentrated on the test. Damn thing couldn't even distract her... she had already finished it... damn.

"Iruka sensei?" She beckoned him to her.

The entire class looked at her strangely.

Iruka looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Yes Sakura? Do you have a problem?" He asked.

"Yeah, the questions are too easy. Can I have a harder test?"

She could hear the sigh of relief go through the class. Sure, she still acted weird, but at least the weird kinda fit her.

Iruka shook his head. "You can't be done yet Sakura. Even you..." He stared at her test paper, then grabbed it and examined it. Flying from question to question.

"That was fast..." He stammered finally, staring at her in shock.

"Well, yeah, can I have another test? Maybe the chunin one? I heard they are kinda difficult." She answered. Not that they really would provide much more of a challenge, but anything to alleviate the boredom.

"I'm also done Iruka Sensei!" Sasuke said, grinning.

The Uchiha grinned! Grinned!

Sakura stared at the freak of nature. What. The. Hell?

Ok, something fishy was going on. The Uchiha flirting with Ino had been weird enough. But that could have been written off as an anomaly, or some plot to ensnare Ino into his schemes. But this? An honest to god happy grin?

Damn, she would have to get to the bottom of this.

Iruka, wandered over to Sasuke, a bit unsteady on his feet. Not everyday that two students finished the written test in under ten minutes Sakura bet.

He flew over Sasuke's answers, and nodded numbly. "These seem to be correct, just like Sakura's." He said, slowly, his voice shaking slightly..

"So does that mean I get out of detention?" Sasuke asked, all white eyed innocence.

Iruka blinked for a second, and glared at his student. "No." He stated flatly, apparently shaken out of his stupor.

"Didn't think so." The Uchiha shrugged.

Naruto giggled. The rest of the class attempted futilely to focus on their tests.

"Can we go outside then? Prepare for the combat test?" Sakura piped up. Maybe she could spar with the Uchiha, that would be... fun. For her and hopefully painful for the Uchiha.

She grinned at the boy, who gulped visibly.

"No, I'll get you the chunin level tests." Iruka grinned at them. "Let's see how well you do on them."

Damn, shouldn't have given him the idea. Sakura though.

-o-

Naruto waited for the last part of the test. If you knew the answers to every question it would be easy to fail the written test, he reflected.

But to barely not fail it?

He had a new found respect for Shikamaru, who didn't just do it for one test.

Luckily Naruto didn't have to fake on the combat exam. His body didn't follow his controls exactly. He was sure Sakura could explain why it didn't, probably because he just didn't have the proportions of his old body or something, but it followed his orders well enough.

He once had to listen to Sakura lecturing him about muscle memory and how it wasn't actually his muscles that remembered but his brain, and how that was the only reason he could learn with his shadowclones. He suspected that this body, brain, whatever, still had some muscle memory from before he inhabited it, which meant that, as long as he didn't think about it too much, he could punch and kick well enough.

Sakura and Sasuke had the same problem apparently. Though the both of them did manage to do better than him. Sakura even managed to do better than Sasuke, which was kinda weird, considering that Sasuke's body should be better suited to combat.

After all Sasuke trained his body far harder than Sakura, at least before the chunin exam.

Though, he frowned, Sakura just did better in the form. Sasuke, while far more sloppy also moved far faster. Much better suited to real combat.

Of course, in this test that wouldn't matter, only form mattered, since the genin wouldn't face actual combat too soon, their Jonin would have to make sure they were ready for that.

So Sakura might actually get better grades than Sasuke.

Naruto grinned, wouldn't that be neat. He almost waved at Sakura, before her glare reminded him that maybe discretion would be the better part of valor.

Sasuke also kept away, from Sakura and Ino.

Ino had tried to go closer to him, but Sakura's glares made sure that Sasuke kept a nice and save distance.

Which was another surprise, Sasuke didn't seem to want to keep that distance. Whenever Sakura didn't glare at him, in other words, when she didn't look at him. He shot her sad glances, her or Ino...

Naruto sighed, another mystery. Once the test was over... no, once they had been assigned to Kakashi, then he could talk to Sasuke... and hopefully Sakura.

But first... Mizuki.

-o-

Sakura frowned when she noticed a dejected Naruto leave the academy. She stood outside, her parents were congratulating her.

She smiled brightly, nodded at them and generally did her best to fake happiness.

She had managed to avoid her parents all day but now... now she had to face them.

It was easier than facing Ino, which actually made it worse.

She knew, that her parents loved her. She could see it written all over their faces. But she didn't love them. They had just drifted apart over the years, where Ino always stayed at her side.

And so, when her parents died... it hadn't hurt. She had felt sad, for a day or two. But she got over it, like she did with the dead of other people. Civilians, killed in the fighting, swept aside by the claw of a chakra monstrosity or by a careless ninjutsu.

And now... she desperately wanted to drain the bottle she held in the storage scroll at her side. But...

She couldn't, not in front of her parents.

So, Naruto, thinking about him was better than thinking about how much she didn't miss her parents.

He looked dejected, if you were a rookie. To Sakura he looked as if he had a plan, she frowned.

"Sakura? Is something wrong?" Her mother asked, following her gaze.

"Oh... he failed the academy right?" She asked.

Sakura nodded, if you took his expression at face value, he did. But she would bet every scrap of alcohol the world had to offer that he wanted to fail.

"That's good I suppose, I mean... he's such a troublemaker..." Sakura's mother looked around uneasy.

"Yeah..." Sakura nodded. Damn, hearing the whispers around her, saying how good it was that Naruto failed... kinda make it hard to blame him for leaving.

She had forgotten how bad he had been treated. She shook herself, even if he did have a legitimate reason for betrayal. That didn't excuse him cooking up the chakra beasts and unleashing them on the world.

Sasuke left the academy, a proud grin on his face. A grin which fell as soon as he realized that nobody was waiting for him. He hung his head, hiding his face from Sakura.

Damn it. Why did they make her feel sorry for them? Sasuke had unleashed an army of freaky, messed up ninja on the world, in an attempt to outdo Naruto in destructive potential.

"That poor boy... to be so alone..." Her mother muttered. Sakura's father just grunted. Sakura had to suppress a giggle, as far a he was concerned it didn't matter who the boy was. As long as there was a male around his daughter he wouldn't be happy.

"Mom, Dad?" Sakura asked, she had to get away from here. "I'll go look for Ino," who had thankfully already left, "to celebrate."

"Have fun dear." Her mother said, while her father grunted in approval.

Had he always been like that? She couldn't remember. As soon as she couldn't see her parents anymore she pulled out a bottle and downed it's content and dropped the genjutsu that hid her smell. She had no intention of meeting up with Ino. No, Naruto planned something, and she wouldn't let him do whatever it was, without at least keeping an eye on him.

-o-

Sasuke walked through the streets of Konoha, around him people whispered, thinking he couldn't hear them.

They whispered about him, about the last Uchiha... the last, when Madara was somewhere out there, plotting, preparing. He had no doubt about that.

He didn't know what exactly happened, to kill his family. But he had no doubt, that Madara had his hands in it, somehow.

He sighed, but without the Kyuubi Sasuke couldn't do much against him. The highest form of the Sharingan might be able to hurt Madara, but... he would have to go to Itachi for those eyes. And if he was the last Uchiha... good luck asking a corpse for his eyes.

And that was assuming Itachi even had the magenkyo...

He reached his apartment. But then, he just tried to avoid thinking about what really hurt him. He was alone. He had no clan, no mother, no brother. He didn't even have friends. Naruto didn't wait for him, though maybe that was just the fact that he didn't pass the exam, he had looked so sad, walking out of the examination room... Sasuke had wanted to go up to him, tell him that he would pass next time.

But he had kept back, reminding himself that Naruto probably wouldn't appreciate him doing that.

Not as angry as he still would be.

He hadn't dared approach Sakura. Where Naruto was merely pissed she was murderous. No way he would go close to her until she calmed down somewhat. It could only take years...

He flopped onto his bed. Tomorrow would look better. It had to! If it didn't... he didn't know how long he could take this.

-o-

Naruto stopped near the little hut he remembered from the last time, he stole this scroll.

Here Mizuki would find him, here he would reveal the secret to him, and here Naruto would show Iruka that he learned how to use shadow clones.

Only one problem. Somebody had followed him, he had felt the presence, on and off, since his meeting with Mizuki, he couldn't pinpoint it, he only had the slightest idea of his followers existence.

The only thing he was sure of, was that it wasn't Mizuki. The idiot simply didn't have the skills necessary to follow him like that. Few people had.

Well, it would take a while until Mizuki and Iruka would show up, so he had time for a little chat. He had hoped to have another look at the scroll. But, his shadow was more important.

"I know you're there, you might be good, but you aren't nearly good enough to hide from me." He shouted.

The leafs rustled in the wind. Some insects chirped in the night.

And absolutely no sound reached his ears.

He frowned, standing still, his stalker could hide even from him.

He didn't have time for this. Ok he had, but still, he would prefer if he could just get on with it. Maybe learn another jutsu to pass the time. He didn't want to wait for this stalker to attack him from the shadows.

Only the faintest whiff of alcohol warned him of the attack. He whirled around, kunai in hand, a smirk on his face. He faced an empty forest, just as expected.

"Not bad." Sakura's voice came from behind, a kunai at his throat. "Not bad at all."

He opened his mouth to respond, but the kunai bit into his throat before he could make a sound.

"Now come out!" Sakura shouted, as the shadowclone disappeared.

Naruto gulped, if that had been him...

And she didn't hesitate, didn't give him a chance to explain. She just killed him. Granted, she did seem to expect it to be a shadowclone, but what if she had been wrong?

And she was drunk. His clone had smelled her the second she had reached him. And afterward...

The fact that she could still sneak up on him like that, while drunk like that... he didn't like the implications, didn't like them at all.

"I said come out Uzumaki!" She screamed, killing intend flaring.

Damn that still disturbed him, how could a little girl radiate enough killing intend to rival the Kyuubi?

"Alright already." He shouted back and jumped down, to join her. Even with her killing intend, she couldn't touch him.

He choose not to think about the clone, he had recovered from worse wounds.

"Hello Uzumaki." She growled.

"Sa..." He stopped himself. If she wouldn't call him by his first name, neither would he. "Haruno." He gave her a short nod, she just stared at him. Eyes burning.

"What do you want?" He finally asked.

She continued to glare, then sighed and took a drag from her bottle.

"To talk."

Naruto could see her restraining herself.

This must be pretty hard for her. And he still had no idea why she hated him like that.

"Talk?" He asked, looking at the kunai she still held in her hand. "That why you killed my clone?" He glared at her. "To talk?"

She grinned. It reminded him far too much of the way Kyuubi grinned, all teeth, no humor.

"No, that was for fun."

Yeah, utterly like the Kyuubi.

"And why should I talk to you?" He asked. Not that he didn't agree. But there came a point where you just had to push back, or your opponent would just assume they could walk all over you.

She glared at him, like she did the entire time since he showed up in the past.

He rolled his eyes, talk she said.

"I thought you wanted to talk Haruno." And damn did that hurt. He wanted to call her Sakura, move in and hug her, make the pain go away, because he could see pain, anybody who couldn't had to be blind.

But he didn't, he liked living without kunai wounds in sensitive places.

"I hate you." She finally said, as if that wasn't perfectly clear to him already, not that it didn't hurt to hear her say it.

"I hate you, and everything you stand for." She continued. "I hate the way you talk, the way you move, that stupid grin of yours, that god damn look of pity you give me right now..."

She rammed the bottle into her mouth and emptied it completely.

"I hate this. You are here, alive. Ino's alive, my parents are alive, everybody's alive. And still... and still..." She pulled out a scroll, ripped her thumb open and unsealed another bottle of alcohol.

She proceeded to empty that bottle too.

He didn't dare go closer, he had no doubt, that if he did he would end up skewered on her kunai.

"And still it hurts! It hurts even worse, cause I don't give a damn! For all I care you all can die again! Especially you! And The Uchiha! You mass-murdering bastards should rot in hell! But you are alive!" Suddenly she stood in front of him, bottle and kunai were gone, as she grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

"Why are you still alive? When so many aren't? Why the fuck did you die? You should have to live with the consequences! But no, you and the Uchiha kill each other, and let the rest of us deal with the monsters you created!" He didn't resist, he didn't dare to.

What had happened after Sasuke killed him? It must have been something bad, something very bad, to affect Sakura like this.

And the worst part, the part that really chilled him, was the realization that she didn't cry. She just stared at him, hatred burning behind her eyes.

"Why..." She whispered, and threw him away.

"I don't know." He whispered back. He didn't have the slightest idea what she meant, what she went through. He only knew that she hurt.

And that she wouldn't accept his help, not yet at any rate. Maybe later, after she opened up a bit. But not now.

She took a shaking breath, then pointed at the scroll, that lay forgotten at his feet.

"Why did you steal that?" She asked, having regained some control at least.

He looked at the scroll. "It's a ninjutsu scroll, Mizuki wants it."

"I know, why did you steal it. You had to know he would try to take it from you."

"It has the instructions on how to make shadowclones." He answered.

Sakura nodded. "An explanation for why you can use them."

"Yes, and I can expose him for the traitor he is." He added.

Her eyes narrowed at him. "That's rich coming from you."

The way she said it... but he wouldn't press, not yet.

"It's how I passed the exam the first time." He was pretty sure she had traveled back with him, actually it was the only explanation he could think of, for her behavior just now. But it wouldn't hurt to make sure.

"I always wondered. You just showed up, after failing..." She whispered.

"Do you want to stay? Iruka will arrive at dawn..."

"Didn't you and Sasuke have detention?" She asked.

"Eh, skipped it." Naruto shrugged. He doubted Iruka even bothered to look for them, after they left the academy. Contrary to what he had said, once you passed, you passed. And once you flunked you flunked. Until you were back in class that is.

She snorted weakly, before her eyes hardened again.

"I'll stay, and watch. Don't expect me to talk."

"You know about the Kyuubi I assume?" If she didn't...

"Of course."

"Good, it's how I found out, the first time."

"Whatever." She muttered, then disappeared, hiding somewhere in the forest.

Naruto shook his head sadly, then settled down with the scroll, he still had time, maybe he could learn a jutsu or two.


	2. New Neighbors and Reasons to drink

Fragments

-o-

New Neighbors and Reasons to drink

-o-

Naruto grinned happily as he felt the weight of the headband settle on his head.

Even if he had done it once before, getting Iruka's acknowledgment felt good. It felt as if he belonged.

Now if only he didn't also feel the burning on the back of his head, the one that signified that Sakura choose it as a suitable receptacle for one of her kunai.

She hadn't left the entire night, and in the end he couldn't concentrate enough to learn even one more jutsu from the scroll. He did managed to memorize the idea though. That would be enough to work them out on his own, later.

"Let's go get some ramen Iruka!" He shouted. Neutral ground, where Sakura couldn't just kill him and any witnesses seemed like a good idea to him.

Iruka laughed, shaking his head. "Of course Naruto, we need to get somebody to collect Mizuki though."

"Bah, we'll just tell an Anbu on the way or something." Naruto dismissed his teacher.

He just hoped Sakura wouldn't decide to finish the chunin. That could make this way more complicated than it had to.

He looked around briefly but couldn't sense her at all, not even a whiff of alcohol... he had gotten used to that awfully fast.

-o-

Sakura finished the jutsu, and felt new energy course through her. Watching Naruto pour over the scroll kinda felt like watching Madara pour over his.

The same kind of concentration, shaken by the knowledge that somebody watched, somebody who could kill them any second they choose to do so.

She smirked. Maybe they could have fought back, maybe not. But if they wanted a chance to defend themselves, they needed to keep an eye out for her.

It reminded her of many such nights. At first spend with her teammates.

After the clash only her captain could be spared.

After Konoha had been destroyed, together with Ino.

And finally alone, watching a target, observing it's habits, until she could be sure to win.

She had shivered then, telling herself it had been the night air.

Still, she wandered into the academy. Naruto had only been interested in exposing Mizuki and gaining an explanation for his usage of shadowclones. That he tried to learn other jutsu? Who cared, she had her own and those were all she needed.

She opened the door to the classroom, scanning the students already there.

In one corner sat Hinata Hyuuga. Sakura glared at her, another traitor. Following Naruto to satisfy her little crush.

Hinata shrank back from Sakura's glare, trying to hide herself.

Sakura shook herself. If Sasuke had taken her with him...

Sighing she tried to smile at the shy girl. It came off as a grimace, but better than the glare.

Luck of the draw. If Hinata had stayed, maybe she wouldn't have become as obsessive with continuing Naruto's legacy, breeding monsters, attempting to take over the world with them...

And if Sasuke had taken Sakura with him... well, who knew.

She searched for Ino, who glared at her, but didn't shrink back in fear, like yesterday.

"Hey Ino." She should stay away, really she should. But Ino... she had been the only one left. And if she had a chance to talk to her again. Then she would risk it, so what if Ino could die again? So could Sakura. And this time Sakura would die before Ino did, or immediately after.

"What do you want crazy lesbian?" Ino growled back, holding her head high and hiding the slight tremble very well indeed.

"Hehe, still upset over my little prank yesterday?" Sakura asked grinning. With Ino she could grin, the easy companionship comforting her.

"Yes! I mean no!" Ino screeched.

Ah, so easy to rile her up. Sakura snickered. It had been very hard to get anything out of Ino but a grunt, close to the end. But then, Sakura hadn't exactly said much either. She moved, enveloping Ino in a hug. It had all been said at that point anyway.

"Don't leave me again." She whispered into the startled Ino's ear.

"What the hell... are you drunk?" Ino pried Sakura off her and stared at her face. Sakura nodded, giggling.

"Yeah, I'm celebrating." Good booze and you, she didn't say.

"We aren't supposed to drink." Ino whispered back, shock written all over her face. "What if Iruka noticed it?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "So what? He won't."

The door opened and Sasuke entered the room, he looked around. His face carefully optimistic, a hopeful grin tugged on his lips, once he spotted Sakura.

Sakura almost gave in, instead she glared back. He couldn't be trusted. He only cared for revenge, nothing else mattered.

And it didn't matter that he didn't act like Sasuke at all. He looked too much like Sasuke to not be Sasuke.

"What the hell forehead? What's it with you giving Sasuke the evil eye? Normally you would be all over him." Ino looked at her strangely.

"And you wouldn't?" Sakura returned the question.

"Well of course, he's the best catch ever!" Ino said as if that was a law of Nature. "But, I just have to know why you suddenly changed your mind. Did you find anything that made him..." She leaned in, making sure nobody was listening. "undesirable?"

She finished lamely.

"You mean beside the massive mental problems? The pathological need for revenge? The disregard for anything female?"

"He's gay?" Ino shouted, eyes wide in horror.

The entire class looked first at her, then at Sasuke.

"Makes a lot of sense..." One boy nodded.

"Yeah always wondered why he didn't take one of the girls up on their offers." Another said.

"And you know in the showers..."

Sasuke watched the speculation with growing panic, Sakura noted in amusement.

"Well, it's one explanation." She said, shrugging.

"I'm not gay!" Sasuke shouted, storming towards Sakura.

In that moment Naruto entered the room, exactly in front of Sasuke. The two collided, falling to the floor, Sasuke on top of Naruto, noses nearly touching.

Sakura suppressed the blush that threatened to rise easily. Ino didn't.

"You mean he and Naruto?" She whispered.

"If you kiss me again there will be pain." Naruto said evenly, danger swinging with every word.

"Kiss you again? I never, ever kissed you before!" Sasuke shouted back.

The whispering in the room reached a new level.

Naruto blinked, while Sakura narrowed her eyes.

The other kids might think Sasuke was just denying. But Sakura knew better, he had never kissed Naruto, or at least thought he didn't. And with every other change in his behavior...

Damn, she had no idea what it meant. But he may not be the Sasuke she remembered...

"Settle down!" Iruka shouted. "Naruto, Sasuke get to your seats."

The two boys scrambled away from each other. Trying not to look like they were looking at each other.

Sakura nearly snickered. If she hadn't been a good as she was, they would probably have succeeded too, she was fairly certain she was the only one who noticed the looks exchanged.

"I'll now assign you your teams and Jonin." Iruka said to the now quite class.

"After your assignment you have a short break, to get to know your team."

The boys and girls looked at each other excitedly. Pity most of them wouldn't make it past their teachers tests.

-o-

This was so unfair! Sakura knew perfectly well that he was not gay! But now the entire class thought he was.

No thanks to Naruto. He glared at the blond.

He had never kissed him. Never! If he had he would remember damn it!

Naruto looked at him, but instead of the anger Sasuke had expected Naruto looked back with... curiosity?

"Team 7..." Sasuke perked up as he heard his team designation.

"Haruno Sakura." He could see Sakura sit up straight.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto gave Sakura a look, Sasuke had no idea what it meant, but Sakura returned it with narrowed eyes.

"And Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka finished.

All three members of Team 7 nodded, and settled down again.

Sasuke wanted to cheer, but he doubted it would be appreciated. Especially by Sakura.

He remained quite, while Iruka finished assigning the teams. Sasuke remembered only some of the teams. Most had failed after all, at least the first time.

"Ok, you have one hour to get to know your team, if you don't already know each other." Iruka finished smiling, he looked at Naruto for a second. Sasuke frowned, why would Iruka worry about Naruto... and why had Naruto failed yesterday? He had been too distracted to think about it then, but Naruto had failed... though that had obviously been planed. Naruto's presence here showed that.

Still, something...

"Up Uchiha." Sakura stood in front of him, and looked down. Her gaze hard, but not quite a glare.

Naruto stood beside her. "Yeah Sasuke, let's get out of here. We need to talk."

And if that wasn't the greatest understatement of the millennium...

"Yeah." He muttered. Though he did smile at Naruto, who did smile back.

Things were definitely looking up.

-o-

They sat on the roof of the academy, eating their lunch in silence. Well Naruto and Sasuke were eating. Sakura had apparently opted for a liquid breakfast.

"You shouldn't drink this early in the morning." Sasuke admonished her and blinked. "Or at all! You are twelve!" He added.

"I'll drink when and however much I want asshole." Sakura growled back. "Also, I'm 25. So very much able to drink, thank you very much brat."

Naruto sighed, this was still better than her flaring her killing... "25!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke shouted, shocked.

"I would quip about the world not stopping after you two killed each other, but I suspect you aren't the same egoistical brats I know." Sakura shrugged.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who still hadn't gotten over his shock.

"No I doubt we are. For example Sasuke here is way, way too cheerful to be the one who stuck a chidory down my chest."

Sasuke whirled around gasping. "I did what?"

Sakura stared flatly at Naruto. "Suppose that's better than getting burned alive by amaterasu..."

Sasuke shuddered. "Yeah that's extremely unpleasant..."

Now Sakura and Naruto stared at him.

"Wait, you were burned by amaterasu?" Naruto asked horrified. That had to be one of the most painful deaths ever."

"Yeah, I managed to wound Madara pretty badly. But... he was just so fast. Got me then." Sasuke hung his head.

Naruto frowned slightly. "I fought against you. It was a double knockout, we would have died, if Madara hadn't shown up."

Sakura, he noticed, watched them with some interest.

"He said he only needed me alive, not in good health, to extract the fox. Then you..." He pointed at Sasuke, but immediately shook his head. "No the Sasuke from where I came, did something with the sharingan..."

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, the fourth and Itachi taught me how to manipulate time and space with the sharingan. And once the fox gave me his power... all of it... I could do... something. I can't explain it..."

Naruto almost smiled as the Uchiha trailed off, to look at Naruto in dawning comprehension.

"You are a jinchuriku too?" He asked, a small smile forming on his lips.

Naruto nodded. "Well the only one here, since you said you don't have the fox anymore. The fox probably merged with the one in my stomach or something."

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. You have no idea how glad I am that it's you that has the fox. Imagine if it was somebody like Danzo."

Naruto shuddered. "You said something about the fourth teaching you... my father was alive? Where you come from I mean?"

Sasuke looked down, but nodded. "Yeah, so he isn't here." He looked at Naruto's stomach. "He sacrificed himself yes?"

Naruto just nodded.

Sasuke continued. "Yeah, back home... " He stumbled over his words, and had to start again. "Back home my own father sacrificed himself. He realized that Madara was probably planing something, and that this attack would further the segregation of the Uchiha."

Sasuke looked around. "It happened here didn't it? The Uchiha were driven out of the village slowly and then... something happened."

Naruto looked at Sakura, who had been quite through their conversation. But she didn't seem inclined to say anything now.

"Yeah, Itachi killed them all." He said, quietly.

Sasuke's eyes widened in apparent horror. "No, no way."

Naruto debated, whether to tell him that it happened on Konoha's orders, or not.

"They... they wouldn't have tried that would they?" Sasuke whispered. "They couldn't have planned to actually do it..."

Naruto looked at him sharply. "What do you mean."

Sasuke shook his head. "My father had been right, Madara had planned something. However, because the fourth was alive and my father sacrificed himself to stop the Kyuubi, we were considered heroes. We were integrated further into the village, instead of driven to the sidelines."

He leaned back. "Still, Madara tried to incite us into rebellion. It didn't work... but if my father hadn't sacrificed himself..."

Naruto nodded, he glanced at Sakura, who watched them impassively. No way to read her face at all. No way to see how this affected her.

"I... I don't want to know why Itachi did it do I?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No, probably not."

Sasuke nodded. "Then don't tell me. I don't need to know. I have seen where hatred leads. I don't want to follow Madara's footsteps."

Sakura snorted, took a long drag from the bottle on her side and laughed in earnest.

"This is so messed up. The Uchiha actually being part of the leaf. Sasuke having a sheltered happy childhood... him not being a brooding moody bastard after more and more power..."

She laughed madly, not stopping at all. Damn, Naruto could hear the pain in the laughter. And from what she told him, he could imagine why. Obviously Sasuke had betrayed her team, just like he had betrayed his. But, if this Sasuke, who sat with them had been on her team... maybe it would have been different. Maybe all the pain... He sighed no use thinking about what if's. It had happened, now you moved forward.

His eyes widened as Sasuke moved forward, towards the hysterical girl. Naruto opened his mouth to stop the suicidal fool. He would get himself killed and he didn't have the Kyuubi to regenerate from kunai wounds to the chest.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, as he actually hugged the hysteric girl.

Sakura stopped and looked at the boy, murder in her eyes. Naruto saw her hand go for one of the pouches on her side, but Sasuke shifted his position slightly, pinning her hand.

"I'm sorry for what I did, that hurt you so much. I... I can't make it up to you." He looked at her, admirably fighting the flinch when he looked into her eyes, when he faced the hatred Naruto had faced yesterday.

But his face hardened. "But I can make the future better. This time I will protect you."

Sakura had stopped struggling, but those words were definitely the wrong ones.

If anything she looked at Sasuke with more hatred than before. "I don't need your protection brat. I have fought enemies that would make you piss your pants in unholy terror. I have done things that would make you loose your stomach, in disgust." She spat at him.

"I'm not a dainty little flower that will swoon the second you show up to save her. I've killed more often than you can imagine. Your protection is about as necessary for me as a kunai to back."

She twisted her hand into a seal, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A second later she stood behind Sasuke, kunai at his throat. "I can kill you whenever I please. Naruto might have protection from instant dead thanks to the Kyuubi. You? Don't!"

Sasuke turned around, wiping her spit off his face. And smiled. "I know." Man to hide his shaking like that... he was pretty damn good, had to give it to him.

"But you are my friend. Even if you aren't exactly her. And I don't leave my friends when they hurt. I will make it better."

Sakura glared for a few more seconds, then turned away and sat down, facing away form them.

Naruto grinned widely, almost monstrously so. He liked this Sasuke. He had balls, he had the right attitude and he stood by his friends. Even if they were very different than what he remembered.

Naruto didn't even considered what the last thing meant. It was so much better that way.

"Well. Let's continue with our explanation on why we are here shall we?" Naruto said, hooking his arm around Sasuke, who looked at him first in shock, then in elation.

"Yeah, you haven't finished your story yet Naruto." Sasuke said.

-o-

Sakura barely listened to Naruto's story, or Sasuke's angry growls, whenever he did something stupid in the story.

She stared out, over the Konoha, damn the brat. Damn him to hell. How dare he... how dare he...

She didn't whimper, but she wanted to. She gulped, how had he affected her like this? She actually felt like crying! Not that the tears were hard to suppress, but she hadn't even felt like that when meeting Ino. Why now? She spend only a year with those bastards. And yet and yet...

"Sakura? How did you come back?" Naruto asked gently from behind her.

She didn't react. She didn't know how.

There were so many things she wanted to do, to say. And some of them would get her into trouble with the authorities. Especially with a body as weak as this one. She would have to train pretty hard, to get back the toughness, she trained herself up to back in the hellhole.

"Come on Sakura-chan." Sasuke seemed to approach her for another hug. She actually considered letting him!

"Madara." She hissed, not turning around. She could feel the two recoiling though.

"He send me back." She looked at the Hokage monument. "After the chunin exams, after the invasion..." Naruto nodded, she could feel it. Sasuke didn't. But his history probably had no Invasion and he only knew what she was talking about from Naruto's tale.

"First Sasuke left, to join sound. A day later Naruto disappeared. You were just gone. Hinata too.

"I don't know what you did, or how you managed it. Nobody left alive knows. But, when you returned..."

She turned around, to look at the boys. She wondered if they could see it. The monsters, following in Naruto's wake. Hordes of them, creatures shaped directly out of chakra. Bred only to kill.

"You led an army of monsters, whoever stood in your way died. Apparently you planned to conquer the world. And you wanted to start with Konoha."

Naruto looked very green at this point. She took some small pleasure from it, but not much.

She returned to look at the monument. It hurt to remember. Those who could, never talked about it. And of those, only Sakura and Kakashi managed to face Naruto, riding what appeared to be the Kyuubi. He had smiled, not his usual smile. But a cruel one, harsh, evil. Neither Sakura nor Kakashi had had any desire to step in his way, and kept hidden.

"Sasuke seemed tame by comparison." She continued, shuddering. "He used humans. For a given value of human at least." She looked at her two listeners.

"Maybe you faced some of Orochimaru's creations?"

Naruto nodded, while Sasuke shook his head.

"The fourth killed him, shortly after the Kyuubi attack." Sasuke said.

Sakura shrugged, from what Madara said he had been brilliant, but he also hated Konoha with as much passion as Madara hated the Uchiha. After Sasuke left, she didn't have any more encounters with Orochimaru, so she couldn't judge.

"Well, ask Naruto about them, they are rather frightening, once they have been turned into weapons. And Sasuke did turn them into weapons. Better weapons than Naruto's chakra beasts.

"Of course, Naruto had a lot more beasts than Sasuke had ninja."

She clamped up. The battle, again at the Valley of the End. It had been renamed after the clash. The Valley of Worlds End. She had been there, watched the battle, seen the glee as her ex-teammates ripped into each other...

"It was a double knockout. Both killed each other. More than half their forces had been slaughtered, when they clashed."

She wished it had been the most horrible thing she had ever seen. But that spot was reserved to one of the villages slaughtered by the chakra beasts, after they were freed of Naruto's control.

"The rest began to roam the nations. And, whatever they met, they killed."

Sasuke looked green, Naruto shook with rage.

"I'll cut it short here. In the end the Nations were stretched thin, containing the monsters. Some more than others. Resources became scarce, people went to war. Again and again."

Was Sasuke crying? Geez.

"When I met Madara there weren't any survivors from Konoha. The place had been razed so many times... by humans and monsters."

She pulled out a new bottle and drained it in one go, she didn't want to remember those pictures.

"He told me that he might have a way to prevent this from happening. To send me to the past..."

Sasuke growled a little. "Why would he do that? Isn't that what he wants?"

Naruto looked at Sakura, who looked back, eyebrow raised.

"Nah, at least not where I come from." Naruto answered. "He wanted peace, by forcing it on the entire world. The plan somehow involved the moon."

Sakura snorted, she never said it to his face. But that plan had been doomed from the start. And it had been stupid. Also something she never mentioned.

"Yeah same here." She backed Naruto up.

Sasuke gaped at them. "That's the most stupid thing I ever heard..." He got out, after a few seconds.

"Sure is." Sakura confirmed. "Anyway. He send me out, to collect some stuff for the jutsu. Scrolls, potions etc. And then he used it to send me here."

She smirked, as she turned around. "And lemme tell you. I love it. Decent booze a body that isn't horribly disfigured and doesn't hurt all the time."

It had been so exhilarating, to feel young again, she nearly danced, only remembering at the last second, that these were the people who had ruined her world. At least potentially.

She settled down again, bringing her glare back. Even if not at full strength.

"Well, that's my story. Now what?" She looked at the boys in front of her.

-o-

Sasuke didn't know how to feel. When Naruto had told him his Clan was gone... it felt horrible. But, to have your entire world ripped apart, piece by piece until absolutely nothing was left?

He somehow didn't feel he had the right to complain. Besides, he did have his friends. Well at least Naruto.

But Sakura would come around. He had managed to hug her without getting eviscerated. Always a good sign.

Naruto cleared his throat. "I would have suggested following what happened last time as much as possible..." He looked at Sakura, hugging her bottle protectively, then at Sasuke, smiling tentatively.

And shook his head.

"But you'll both agree that's impossible. Sakura is just too messed up and Sasuke is... well not nearly messed up enough."

Sasuke tried not to laugh at that, he really did! So it just became a girlish giggle. There went his manly street cred. Good thing there weren't any witnesses.

"You can say that again. He's disgustingly cheerful." Sakura grumbled, glaring at him.

"I just have a positive outlook on the future. If you expect bad stuff to happen it will." He repeated the fourths favorite rebuke to those who called him too optimistic.

"Bah, I'm sure you'll make good fertilizer once a monster craps you out, you're full of bullshit already." Sakura laughed harshly.

"Hey, I'm way to good to die to one measly monster."

"And there's your first mistake. You assume it will be only one!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Naruto shouted, ever the voice of reason. "I still want to do a few things by the book." He continued.

Sakura shrugged. "I assume you mean our book, since Sasuke doesn't have the same version?"

Sasuke looked at Naruto, a little hurt that he forgot.

"No I mean the book of this world. I mean I have no idea what happened, but this world looks more like ours, than it does like his. So we can assume..."

Sasuke cut him off. "Don't assume, it only leads to trouble."

Sakura nodded, smirking nastily. "Or my blades, they so enjoy cutting up idiots who assume they can have fun with me, just because I'm alone in the wasteland."

Sasuke decided not to think about that any further. He suspected that he would have to block a lot of thoughts on Sakura.

"After I have my fun with them of course." Sakura finished.

"Err, ok..." Naruto nodded, carefully. "But still, at the moment that's all we can do. So I want to go help Wave out." He also ignored Sakura's... whatever.

Sasuke looked at Sakura, who stared at Naruto, before she shrugged. "If you can arrange it in such a way that Tazuna comes exactly when you start whining? Be my guest. I think I can think of some uses for Zabusa's pretty bodyguard."

She leered at the boys.

Sasuke shuddered. Ok he would not get into a relationship with her anytime soon. Anko always warned him of girls like Sakura. They had gone through too much and enjoyed hurting people too much to have a normal relationship.

"As long as he doesn't die." Naruto muttered.

Sasuke felt rather left out, so he focused on the rather more imminent problem.

"Err you guys are aware we have to pass the test our jonin gives us first?" He asked.

Both looked at him blankly.

"It might not be that easy you know?" Sasuke tried again.

They continued to stare.

"Our sensei forced us to search the forest of death for a ring he lost in there. For three days! When we were fresh out of the academy!" Sasuke nearly shouted at them.

They blinked.

"Huh, sounds interesting." Naruto muttered.

Sakura shrugged. "So what? Can't be all that hard." then she remembered to glare. "Bastard."

Overcompensating much? He didn't say, but it was encouraging. The fact that she already seemed to accept him.

And they were right. He had managed that once. He would again, if he had too.

Naruto opened his mouth. "Sadly we won't have to do anything like that. We have Kakashi as a sensei, remember? He will just give us the bell test."

Sakura nodded, as Sasuke stood there and stared.

"The bell test? Are you sure?" He asked.

They nodded.

"Oh that's alright then. So, any of you have some food they are willing to share? I was kinda preoccupied this morning."

They looked at each other, and shook their heads.

"Nah, we've been out late, kicking Mizuki's ass." Naruto answered nonchalantly.

"Huh? Why?"

"Cause he's a dirty traitor, that's why." Sakura said, equally nonchalant.

-o-

Naruto grinned at his teammates. Though Sakura's tale had chilled him somewhat, mostly because he realized just how close he came to that version of him on occasion. She told them, and revealed that part of herself.

And now, when she looked at them, some pain had left her eyes. Plenty left, but the healing had started.

"Alright! So we'll ace the bell-test,"

"Kick Kakashi's ass, always wanted to do that, but the bastard died on me, before I had the chance." Sakura interjected.

"As I said, ace the bell-test, kick Kakashi's ass, try to get the Wave mission, if necessary make them give it to us. I think I can keep a shadowclone close to the village gate to watch out for Tazuna ..."

Naruto listed what to do.

Sasuke nodded, grinning happily. And damn if that didn't make Naruto happy. To see Sasuke not brood, to see him happy... ok it also scare the shit out of Naruto, but he would get over that sooner or later.

Sakura on the other hand. She glared at the two of them, grumbling something about overoptimistic brats. Seeing her, not brood, but certainly depressed... and drunk. And how did she managed to still stand? She should be unconscious by now. He could smell the alcohol, from a few feet away.

The last two bottles had to be sake. No way a little slip of a girl should be able to down that much alcohol...

Suddenly she stood up.

"Gotta go to the ladies room you two. Do me a favor and kill each other while I'm gone?" She said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"You know?" Said Sasuke, staring at the spot Sakura had just vacated, his voice shaking just a tiny bit. "I don't think I like this Sakura very much."

Naruto grunted his agreement. "No kidding, she has quite the cheerful attitude doesn't she."

"Yeah. Think it's the alcohol?"

"Definitely the alcohol." Naruto agreed.

"Once we go to Wave we destroy her supplies?"

"Sounds good."

"Then it's agreed." Sasuke held out his hand with a grin. Naruto glanced at it in confusion.

Sasuke's grin slipped, as he retracted his hand.

"Sorry, forgot that you weren't..." He murmured, turning away from Naruto.

"No no!" Naruto quickly stopped him. "Show me what you used to do. I'm sure it'll be fun."

Sasuke looked back dubiously, then nodded, his smile returning.

"Well, you just kinda hold each others wrist and shake. Not much more, it's just a gesture we kinda made up when we were little... it's kinda stupid." He trailed off, red from embarrassment.

"Hey we are little kids, kinda." Naruto waved off, holding out his hand.

Sasuke nodded, taking Naruto's wrist. "Then it's a promise." He said solemnly.

"It's a promise." Naruto agreed.

"What are you two hatching?" Sakura grumbled from behind them.

Sasuke nearly jumped out of his skin, Naruto only managed to stop himself because he had smelled her a second ago.

"We promised not to kill each other, or even attempt to." He lied smoothly. No way would he ever admit to the planned alcohol removal attempt.

"A true pity." Sakura sighed, settling down again.

If she had been joking, if only she had been joking. Naruto would have felt better. True, there was no heat behind those words. But, she actually had hoped they would kill each other.

But he let it drop. He didn't have to live in a world where her actions led to everybody he ever loved dieing...

"So there's the chunin exam, after the wave mission." Naruto tried to lead the conversation back to it's original topic.

Sakura waved him off. "Not interested in talking about it. It's too far off. Let's just focus on the bell test for now. We have no idea what has changed here yet. Maybe there won't even be a chunin exam."

Naruto snorted. "Why not? And we have to be ready for..."

"Maybe this isn't anything like our world moron." She cut him off. "Let's make sure to gather some info first. Before we make any more assumptions. Disgustingly cheerful over there had a point."

Naruto sighed, but let it go. They would have more than enough time to talk about it later.

"Um, you know I just realized... shouldn't we maybe tell somebody about us?" Sasuke piped up.

Naruto stared at him. That, that actually was a good point.

But Sakura glared at Sasuke. "No way, I'm not going to tell everybody I meet I'm from the future in which everything went wrong somehow."

"Not everybody. Just the Hokage, or Anko..." Sasuke defended himself.

The idea had merit, Naruto agreed. If they could get support...

"Then you can screw every bit of freedom we have as genin." Sakura said. "We'll have to do the work we supposedly have already done before, give Intel to whoever ask for it. No thanks, I prefer to be considered a normal genin."

Naruto felt his eyebrow rise, even as he watched Sasuke's do the same.

Sakura glared. She apparently couldn't do anything else.

"Ok fine, an exceptionally talented genin." She conceded.

Their expression didn't change.

"With problems. You assholes. As if you... "She looked at Sasuke. "Well, you." She pointed at Naruto. "Didn't have problems as well. I can practically see them!"

She had him pegged. Still...

"I trust the Hokage." He said, Sasuke nodded beside him. Sakura glowered at them.

"But, in the interest of team unity and coherence..." He continued, alienating her now might spell the end for whatever agreement they had reached. "I'm willing to wait until after Wave, to reach a final verdict on the matter." Wow, he managed to bring some real nice words in there. Maybe the perverts teachings weren't all in vain?

She looked at him, with narrowed eyes, before she snorted and nodded. "Fine, let's go back to class. Make a show of being present, then do whatever we want. No point waiting for Kakashi."

He nodded and pushed himself up. Sasuke already stood.

"Sharingan Kakashi?" He asked. "He's really our teacher?" He cooked his head. "I don't know whether to be happy or depressed."

Naruto looked at him in confusion. Sure, Kakashi needed some motivation to teach you. But they could provide that. And once he did get motivated he did a good job.

"Huh? Why would you be depressed that we got him?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shuffled after them, listening to the conversation, while glaring daggers at them. Funny how fast you could get used to that... or did just fall into old habits again? She did glare at him like that rather often. Even shortly before he died... kinda.

"Well." Sasuke started, then leaned in conspiratorial. "Anko says that he's pretty broken and if he ever got a team. Well he would probably fixate on them like some kind of doting father and always consider us his children he needs to protect. No matter how strong we get."

Anko again. Sasuke had mentioned her before...

"Well, maybe yours is like that." Or maybe Anko is full of shit. "But this one doesn't have that problem." Naruto assured Sasuke.

Sakura snorted.

"Am I wrong Sakura?" He asked.

"You just didn't have the unique opportunity to be his only surviving genin. Worst mother hen ever!" She answered him, before she turned away and pulled out another bottle... how many of the damn things did she have anyway?

"Uhh... I suppose..." He muttered.

Sasuke shifted nervously. "Uhh is he really that bad?"

Sakura sighed. "He wasn't. Not as long as you two were with us."

"Oh... good thing we won't leave then." Sasuke said cheerfully.

And damn, was that a smile on Sakura's face? Did miracles actually happen?

Naruto grinned to himself.

"Yeah, we won't leave you alone ever again!"

Oops that had been a bit much, she was back to glaring.

Sakura's face shifted again, to a dangerous leer. "Never alone? Ohh that sounds fun, I think I'll bring you to that club I know, only women allowed. You can use your sexy no jutsu." She smirked at them.

Naruto gulped, he would rather not remember the times he used it like that.

Sasuke on the other hand...

"Sounds interesting. I assume Sexy no jutsu is a modified henge?"

Sakura stared at him. Naruto stared at him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What? I've always wanted to infiltrate a lesbian club."

At this point Sakura started laughing like a madwoman.

All in all, Naruto decided. This iteration of team seven was off to a much better start than the last one.

-o-

Kakashi sighed as he looked at the door. He desperately hoped he would be able to fail them.

He didn't want to teach these kids. Not Sasuke, who would have so much to proof. Nor Naruto, who had even more to proof. Never mind the slight guilt he had, not watching over the kid like he should have. He tried, sure but he did have more on his plate than keeping an eye on a kid.

That's what chunin and genin were for.

The girl... well, she was smart, slightly above average in the physical tests, best in the written ones. She would one day make a fine kunoichi... just not under him.

He took a deep breath and opened the door. Maybe he could annoy them into doing something stupid and be rid of them all the faster. The bell test might not be necessary. Ok annoying his fresh genin had only worked once, but he could hope right?

He looked at the empty classroom. Well what do you know it had worked again.

"Oh so he is here already. I told you we should have asked that old lady for directions." A young voice said from behind.

"But she seemed as lost on the road of life as we were." Another voice answered.

Kakashi slowly turned around.

His missing genin had somehow appeared right behind him.

"True, but she had help across the road at least. Maybe she could have pointed us to the nice young man who helped her." Naruto said.

"Maybe." Sasuke nodded. "Anyway did you wait all this time for us Kakashi sensei?" He asked.

Kakashi stared at his students. The situation had spiraled badly out of control. His students had one upped him. And he hadn't even said a word yet!

A giggled came from behind the boys. A little pink haired girl... positively stinking of alcohol... the hell?

And she held a book. A familiar little book. "Ohh this is the best part." She muttered to herself, totally engrossed. "Man, I can't believe I forgot about this..."

"My first impression of you..." He said. The boys perked up. The girl apparently hadn't noticed him, too engrossed in her excellent literature.

"You did your homework. Meet me at the roof." And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

-o-

His team arrived an hour later. He had debated going to search for them, instead he had opted to read his book.

He didn't bother looking up as they arrived. "Punctuality is a virtue for every ninja." He said.

The girl, who had somehow misplaced her book, shrugged. "Eh, we came across this kitten you know? All alone in a tree, we couldn't just leave it there could we?" She delivered it absolutely flat, no desire to appear at all concerned for the poor kitten, also she glared at the boys, indicating who had the idea to save the kitten.

"You left it all to the boys I assume?" Kakashi asked, looking at the boys.

"So what? If they had just agreed to let me cook it, we would have been here an hour earlier." She muttered, before sitting down.

He had never been so glad for his mask. This must be how Gai felt, whenever Kakashi played with him. Totally out of his depth. Constantly on the loosing side of their verbal sparring.

"I... see." He managed to utter.

"She's inhuman." Sasuke glared at her. "She actually wanted to eat it!"

Naruto patted him on the back. "There there, we managed to stop her."

She glared at the boys. "I'll have you know that fresh kitten is delicious."

All three stared at her.

The worst thing in Kakashi's opinion? He couldn't tell if they were all just playing him... or if she was serious.

Not that his nin-dogs would care. They would love somebody who ate kittens for breakfast, he just didn't think he would.

"Nearly as good as puppy." She added, licking her lips. And looked at him, grinning!

His poor poor dogs. No way would they ever be left alone with her.

And did she fall into a barrel of sake or did she actually drink that much? Had to be the former, if she drank the sake to stink like that, she would be dead.

"So. Let's get to know each other." He said, to break the very, very, awkward silence and to distract himself from the very disturbing girl.

"Tell us about your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams." He smiled at them. Only Sasuke smiled back.

He mentally reviewed that sentence. Sasuke smiled back. His files said that he would rather slit his own throat than smile. Ok, he wasn't quite that bad, but close.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like my friends..."

Kakashi sighed, there went Iruka's description of the boy, if only he could claim they were enemy infiltrators. But no infiltrator would ever make these kind of mistakes in assuming an identity.

"... I dislike those who would hurt my friends. My hobbies are training, flirting and... well that's private." Hmm his face fell at the last point. Wait, flirting? He was a bit young for that.

Iruka had been totally wrong about the kid. He acted as if... as if the massacre had never happened.

Maybe he had an accident? A blow to the head and forgot about it? Things like that happened... ninja forgetting everything, friends, family, tragedies. And if you wanted to forget...

Iruka had noted that Sasuke acted strange yesterday. No, all three of them. Maybe they were under the influence of a genjutsu? Or maybe the accident caused trauma for all of them... but then he would have heard of it.

Oh well, nothing to do about it but watch them.

"My dream is to one day defeat a certain Uchiha." Sasuke finished, fist clenched in determination.

Well, maybe he just forgot the worst of the massacre. Or maybe he talked about it to Sakura and Naruto. Which might just have given him the peace of mind necessary to ground him and allow him to find some peace?

Naruto on the other hand had been humbled by the horror the Uchiha had experienced and calmed down somewhat.

And Sakura, who grew up quite sheltered was driven to drink by the story.

Scarily plausible and probably wrong. Well, if they made it through his test he would have ample time to ferret the truth out. If.

"Ok. Naruto, you next." Naruto, who had given Sasuke a thumbs up during his introduction, nodded.

"Well, you all know my name already. I like ramen, toads and training. I hate having to wait for my ramen and those who hurt my friends." He paused, tilting his head to one side.

"My hobbies are... hmm training I suppose, not much else. And my dream? Well, I will become Hokage, but that isn't a dream."

Kakashi stared at the boy. Everybody knew he wanted to become Hokage, but to put it like that, as if there was no question whatsoever...

"My dream is to protect all those I care about, no matter the opposition." He smiled sadly. "But, that is just a dream I'm afraid."

Kakashi looked at the blond long and hard, before this he wouldn't have thought the blond Hokage material. Now? At least he understood the responsibilities. If his skills could be brought up.

"Next one." He muttered, still in thought.

"Whatever. I'm Haruno Sakura. I like sake, beer and any other form of alcohol. I dislike traitors and assholes messing with the laws of Nature. So pretty much every ninja including myself."

Kakashi blinked, all thoughts of Naruto gone from his mind. Alcohol? So she actually drank that much? How did she keep standing?

"My hobbies are drinking, stalking my prey and sleeping. My dream is to taste every alcoholic beverage the world has to offer." She smirked at him and her teammates.

"How... unique?" Kakashi ventured carefully.

"You mean messed up." Sakura countered easily.

"You shouldn't drink like that." Sasuke muttered disapprovingly, but Sakura send a glare his way and silenced him.

"Well, I suppose I should introduce myself?" Kakashi asked, to prevent them from squabbling, certainly not to stop himself from thinking too much about Sakura's answer. Besides once they failed his test he would be rid of them. Easy as that.

"What for?" Naruto asked. Sasuke glared at him, but Sakura nodded.

"You are late to everything, you read Icha Icha in public, your love for it is legendary, you got the sharingan. You visit the memory stone as often as possible and few have ever seen your face." Sakura shrugged.

Kakashi opened his mouth, closed it and opened it again. No sound came out.

Naruto send a glance over to Sakura. "Oy, don't just list his negatives. Let's be fair here. He'll also never leave a comrade behind." He cooked his head, face scrunched up, thinking. "Ok there was just that one positive, but still."

Sakura rewarded Naruto with a flat stare. Sasuke tried to suppress his laughter but failed miserably.

"Umm...ok, as I said before, you did your homework. I suppose I did give you more than enough time." Kakashi finally managed to say, ungrateful brats the lot of them.

"Yeah yeah, get on with it." Sakura waved him off and pulled a bottle from one of her pouches.

The two boys glared at the bottle, but said nothing.

He really should do something about that, even if for just one day they were his responsibility. He stood up, reaching for the bottle.

Sakura snarled, and spiked her killing intent. He actually took a step back, before he could reign himself in again. Damn the brat had a lot of killing intent. Maybe talking her alcohol was a bad idea.

Only one day, her parents could take care of her then.

On the other hand, the snickers from the sidelines informed him, that if he didn't get the bottle whatever credibility he had would be lost.

"Hand over that bottle girl." He glowered at the her.

She glowered right back. "I paid for it, get your own damn booze."

"There will be no drinking while on duty." He tried again.

"Ask me if I care." She countered. "Besides there are no rules like that in the regulations."

"I make the rules."

The snickers again, damn brats. But if they could use killing intent, so could he.

He spiked his own, glaring bloody murder at the girl.

She blinked and snorted. "Got ta do better than that pretty boy. I know kittens more menacing."

Kakashi stared. He couldn't do anything else, he just stared. The girl, the fresh, freaking, genin! Just took enough killing intent to induce a heart attack on most civilians, and she blinked! Blinked! As if it she had been hit by a foam kunai or something.

He looked at the boys, to see if they were alright, Naruto stood there, his expression mirrored the girls, utter boredom.

Sasuke looked mildly impressed at least...

So... he couldn't scare his genin... at all.

He wouldn't cry, just because his genin wouldn't accept his authority... he wouldn't cry, just because he had been outdone by genin... nope, no crying.

At least not where they could be seen.

"Fine." He muttered, he would get them for this. Oh would he get them. "First team meeting is tomorrow, training ground 7." He smiled at them. "It's survival training." They looked at each other and shrugged.

"If you fail you'll go back to the academy." He prodded them. But honestly, he didn't really expect a reaction. If they had found out as much as they did, they probably new this bit too.

They didn't disappoint him, shrugging again, Sakura yawned.

"Hmm you know about the failure rate then?"

Bored nodding all around him.

"Then you are dismissed." They turned around, and made their way off the roof.

"Just one more thing." They stopped, well the boys stopped, Sakura continued walking, slower though.

"You shouldn't eat breakfast, you'll puke." He grinned at them, but the boys just rolled their eyes and followed Sakura. Spoilsports.

He watched edge of the roof they had disappeared over...

Slowly he walked over and looked down. His genin walked down the road, the boys chatting, the girl guzzling a bottle... he frowned, she should be weaving around the street, not walking as easily as the boys.

He would have to get to the bottom of this.

But first the test. And for his humiliation... they would have to face more than just him.

He chuckled, rubbing his hands together. Gai would love an opportunity to introduce new genin to the flames of youth wouldn't he?

Sure, it would annoy Kakashi as well, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater good.

-o-

Sasuke sat in training ground 7. Eating his homemade bento.

He loved his good looks, just a little bit of flirting with one of his neighbors, a middle aged woman. And he had a very nice bento. It didn't taste like the ones his mother made, whenever he ate at home, or visited. But it was good nevertheless.

He had two more, for his teammates. At first the woman had glared at the thought of Naruto receiving one of her bentos. But Sasuke had talked her around. Explaining that the fourth knew what he was doing, that he would never risk the village by using an unsafe seal.

She had still been skeptical, pointing to Naruto's pranks. But a little tale about a kid, who hated by everybody around him, no friends, no one with even the slightest kind word... a little sadness creeping in, a little quiver of the lips.

She had been crying by the time Sasuke finished, made the bento extra big and told Sasuke to invite Naruto to eat with her anytime he liked.

Sasuke smiled at the memory. He would gain acceptance for Naruto, just like he had gained acceptance from the village.

He looked up, as Naruto made his way into the training ground.

"Naruto! Over here!" He shouted, waving the blond over.

Naruto grinned and plopped down beside him.

"Shouldn't we be training or something? We do need to become stronger." Naruto said easily. And blinked at the bento that Sasuke thrust at him.

"Yeah, but we can enjoy ourselves a bit before then. Besides an empty stomach produces less chakra than a full one." He winked at Naruto.

Naruto nodded happily and dug in. A second later he stopped. And stared at the food.

"Something wrong?" Sasuke asked. Hopefully the woman hadn't poisoned the bento. He didn't think so, but...

Naruto's adoring stare quickly reassured him though. "This is awesome. I didn't know you could cook!" He very nearly shouted. Before diving in again.

"I can't, I asked one of my neighbors for some food." Sasuke laughed, seeing his friend make a pig out of himself always amused him.

Naruto looked up, with a raised eyebrow. "Just like that? Man if I asked now..." He trialed off, his face fell for a second. Then it lighted up again. "But I will get their recognition. I did it once I can do it again."

Sasuke nodded. He liked that about Naruto, he always bounced back, from whatever the world threw at him, no matter which world he happened to live in.

"Well, you could just ask the woman who made that for you. She invited you over. Said she wanted to apologize for the way she treated you." Sasuke watched his friend's face, all wide eyed and confused.

Also choking. Sasuke handed Naruto some juice.

"What?" Naruto asked, unbelieving.

"Eh, I just told her how you were all alone, had nobody to look after you, and that the fourth would never use an unsafe seal. She turned around pretty quick."

Naruto stared at him. "No way..."

"She even cried as she made your bento." Sasuke added.

Aww, now Naruto teared up, how cute.

Ugh he sounded like a girl. He shouldn't have let Sakura drag him everywhere.

Maybe he could undo the damage, if he let this Sakura drag him around? Chances were he would end up with a fine collection of manly hobbies... or in leather bent over a chair, getting spanked by a guy in even more leather.

He wouldn't put selling him as a gay slave past this Sakura.

Speaking of. "Hey Sakura!" He shouted at the approaching girl, giving her his most winning smile.

She returned it with her most evil glare... ok one of her less evil glares. She had quite the collection of glares after all.

"Morning idiots. It's disgusting how cheerful you already are." She greeted them.

"Sasuke brought food." Naruto said between bites. "Why shouldn't we be cheerful?"

"Feh." Sakura hissed and turned away.

"I have a bento for you too." Sasuke said, carefully holding it out for her.

She turned to him, still glaring.

But she returned, snatched the bento and walked away.

He nearly missed the muttered, "Thank you".

He smiled, especially when her face lit up in pleasure.

It was eery, how she changed, when the near permanent frown disappeared. It almost seemed as if she lost years and went from a weary old woman, back to the child she should be.

"It's good." She muttered, looking down at it. "Like the one my mother made..." She took another bite, slowly chewing. Eyes closed.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, who also watched her, smiling.

Sasuke scooted close to Naruto. "She" He trailed off, not knowing to continue.

Naruto just nodded, eyes still focused on Sakura. "Yeah."

Only those words were needed. They would do their damnest, to bring that happiness to her more often. To wipe away her pain, and replace it with better memories.

"You are all here already, good." Kakashi said. Sasuke whirled around, he hadn't noticed the man appear, too engrossed with Sakura, who looked at the man, then her food. She quickly polished off what remained and stood up, her mask firmly in place again.

"Kakashi, up so early? I thought we had some time to train before you showed up." She drawled.

Kakashi just rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

Naruto frowned at the man, who had interrupted Sakura's happy time.

"Well, since we are all here, I can explain this test to you." Kakashi continued.

"I even asked for some backup." He smiled through his mask. "Can't make this too easy for you now could I?"

Sasuke felt a shiver run over his back. Backup sounded bad. Usually the jonin tested his students alone.

And then he saw it. The horrible, horrible green, the jumpsuit, the eyebrows.

"Gai." Naruto and him muttered together, horror evident in their voices.

Behind him stood his team, Lee, Neji and Tenten. Sasuke looked towards Sakura.

She stared at Lee. But not with the horror he had expected, instead with...

"Ahh such a beautiful flower. I, the beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee. Will protect you forever." Lee cried out, throwing a kiss towards her.

Everybody's eyes widened, as Sakura turned her cheek and accepted the kiss, a small blush and a huge grin on her face.

"Oooh how nice of you Lee." Sakura winked at him.

Sasuke looked around. Naruto stared, his mouth open, eyes widened in horror.

Neji looked as if he ran headfirst into a wall.

Tenten stared at the girl, eyebrow raised, mouth opened in slight confusion.

Gai smiled, teeth shining. But his eyes showed his confusion.

Kakashi just watched on in silent horror, shaking his head in denial.

Even Lee took a few seconds to realize he hadn't been rejected. He blinked a few times, before he grinned, showing off his shining white teeth. And gave her a thumbs up.

Sakura blew a kiss back.

And Sasuke knew the bitter taste of defeat. He had been beaten, utterly beaten by Lee. Lee had gotten a girl before he, the great Uchiha had managed to.

He bowed his head. The first step to improve yourself, was to accept that you had been defeated after all.

The second step was to analyze why you had suffered defeat.

And it was easily apparent why.

Item one, Sakura hated him, or better a certain version of him. That made it very hard to impress her.

Item two, she didn't hate Lee. He probably didn't abandon her. Also he would probably have supported her through the hard years that followed...

Damn, how did you beat that?

But Sasuke was on her team. He had that advantage at least. He smiled at Lee. Savor your victory, it wouldn't last.

-o-

Naruto shook his head. She had a thing for Lee! Lee! Mini Gai!

This... this was...

Well she always had been nice to him after the chunin exams. So he shouldn't be too surprised.

And if he and Sasuke had both defected, it would be perfectly understandable.

Still she remained standing where she was, not moving closer to Lee.

Naruto wondered why. Then she pulled out a bottle and Naruto realized just what would happen if Lee got close to her.

He gulped and looked at Kakashi, who had apparently gotten over his shock.

"Uhh Sensei?" Naruto ventured, but Kakashi waved him off, as he tried to recollect himself.

"Not now Naruto, I need to reassemble my worldview." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded, he could understand that, but.

"But Sensei, I need..."

Gai coughed into his hand. "While I fully approve of my cute Lee's fortune, we came here to test you three. Though I don't know why Kakashi devised this overly harsh test."

Kakashi had apparently managed to regain his center and focused on Gai.

"These three just seem exceptionally capable. I merely want to test their limits." He grinned at them.

Gai nodded. "I see, and while a fight against you would give you first hand knowledge, a fight against opponents much better, but still in their league would give a far more accurate show of their skills." He nodded.

Naruto raised his hand, desperation slowly crept into his body, as he watched Sakura look at Lee, her smile slowly shifting into something very very creepy.

Especially with the bottle of very strong alcohol on her lips.

"Uhh, Gai sensei I don't think..."

"Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let my students hurt you too much. I'll make sure they stop well short of any permanent damage." Gai pinged his teeth at Naruto.

"Are you scared Uzumaki?" Neji snorted, his voice filled with disdain.

Naruto looked at the fool, who thought Naruto feared him. "No I'm not, at least..."

"You should be. I can see your destiny. And you are destined to fail. You will never become Hokage Uzumaki. Failures like you, will never amount to much." Neji glared.

Ok the idiot wanted his ass handed to him by Lee? He could get his ass handed to him by Lee.

"Whatever you say asshole." Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke glared at Lee, then at Neji.

Tenten stood there, face buried in her hand.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." She muttered.

Suddenly Sasuke stood beside her. And patted her on the back.

"Don't worry, they will eventually grow up." He smiled softly at her. Not that it seemed to have much of an effect, she just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh and you think I'm not counting you amongst the idiots?" She asked him.

"Of course you do. Doesn't mean I'm not right though." Again that smile, and a wink.

And Tenten smiled back, even while she shook her head.

"I see the tales about you being a depressed brooder are false." She said.

Sasuke shrugged. "All lies and falsehood spread by jealous children. How could I ever brood in the presence of a beautiful flower such as yourself?"

She chuckled, just before she attempted to punch him in the face.

"Nice try Uchiha, but I'm not a girl that falls for flowery speeches." She shouted at Sasuke, who had retreated to a safe distance. "I hear enough flowery metaphors daily."

Sasuke shrugged, still grinning. "I know. But I bet they can't deliver it with such flair."

"Kakashi can you get on with it?" Sakura interrupted the couple. "I want to introduce myself to Lee. Can't do that from here, now can I?"

Kakashi sighed, but nodded anyway. "Yes yes I suppose I should explain this test to you."

He pulled out three bells and flung them to the three genin of Gai's team.

"You'll have to get all three bells. Only if you give me the bells will you actually become a genin."

"Otherwise it's back to the academy yeah yeah." Sakura muttered.

"So we just get the bells from them and give them to you?" Naruto asked.

"We? I only accept the bells from one person." Kakashi smirked at them.

"Kakashi, that's just too cruel, you can't do that." Gai cried.

Naruto sighed, the ploy was ridiculously obvious. Still better not say anything.

"I can and just did. Only one of them is worth of becoming a ninja anyway. Isn't that right Sasuke?"

Naruto just wanted to punch Kakashi. The idiot didn't even realize... no he did. Judging by the dejected expression on his face as he watched his genin not react at all. Or with scorn for him.

"Yeah, Naruto is the only one worthy of it." Sasuke agreed.

Sakura snorted, but nodded her head.

Kakashi sighed, then smiled. "Ok usually you would already have passed, since you obviously can work as a team." He nodded to them.

"However, you pissed me off. So I'm adding to the test. Hand me the bells, and I'll accept that you aren't just arrogant beyond all reason and really are that good. Maybe you'll even last till twelve. You have four hours, to try and take the bells from Gai's students. Every hour me and Gai will take any bells you have already collected away from you." He stared at them, his eye dancing with glee.

"I hope you enjoy yourself." He looked at them all. Only Gai's students had reacted at all, shuffling uncomfortably in Lee's and Tenten's case, an angry glare in Neji's.

Gai just watched impassively.

"Begin!" Kakashi shouted.

-o-

Here's chapter two, I'll probably go over it some more in the future, but it's readable enough for now I think^^


	3. Premature Revelations

Fragments

-o-

Premature Revelations

-o-

Sakura didn't waste even a second and hurled herself at Lee, a demented smile on her face.

Naruto didn't risk more than a glance, before he grabbed Sasuke and evacuated.

"The hell?" Sasuke shouted, glaring at Naruto, as he carried him away from the danger zone.

"What are you doing Naruto? We have to help Sakura!" Sasuke wriggled in Naruto's hold, but didn't managed to free himself.

"Bas... Sasuke, how much alcohol does it take to make Lee drunk where you come from?" Naruto asked Sasuke... where had he gone to anyway?

"What the hell are you waiting for, slowpoke?" Sasuke asked from much farther in the forest.

Naruto threw away the log Sasuke had replaced himself with and accelerated. He risked another glance over his shoulder, and saw Sakura, wrapped around Lee like a glove, giving the fortunate... or unfortunate, he couldn't really tell, boy a well executed kiss. With tongue and lots and lots of alcohol.

Naruto shuddered briefly and disappeared further into the woods. He had to be as far away from Lee as possible, otherwise he might end up a target.

-o-

Kakashi stared at his lone remaining student.

Briefly he glanced around for the others, but they had fled as soon as the fight started.

Honestly? Of all the things he had expected, this wasn't the way he thought it would go.

And he had been so sure, they would work as a team...

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Tenten screamed. Kakashi wriggled a finger in his ear, trying to get rid of the ringing the shrill sound had left.

"Let go of Lee! And Lee, stop kissing her. We have a mission remember?" Tenten approached the couple glaring at them furiously.

"Hmpf. As you could expect from a failure." Neji interjected, his byakugan active and searching for Kakashi's other students.

Kakashi noted that Sakura had pulled back... and smiled. He shuddered. He recognized that smile.

Anko smiled like that, he himself smiled like that. Ibiki smiled like that.

It meant that somebody had royally fucked up and you were going to fuck them over. A lot.

"They are jealous of our love Lee." Sakura said, loud and clear for all to hear.

Kakashi gaped. Trying to turn a teammate against his team? Low blow, really low blow.

More importantly, it would never work. If Lee was anything like Gai... Kakashi glanced at his rival, and stopped. Gai shouldn't be this pale.

He shouldn't be this pale at all...

"Gai? What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, not entirely able to keep the dread out of his voice.

"Why does Lee look like he's drunk Kakashi?" Gai asked, his voice trembling in what Kakashi could only describe as horror.

He blinked and looked at Sakura.

"Say how much alcohol would you need to get Lee drunk?" He asked, all casual like.

Gai looked at him strangely. Probably could hear the worry in his voice.

"Well... he's a real lightweight. So a small cup of sake..." He said.

Kakashi nodded. Lee stumbled here and there glaring at his teammates.

Them shouting insults at Sakura and Lee probably didn't help.

Well Tenten shouted. And really, she only shouted at Sakura, for being so brazen and playing with Lee's heart to further her own goals.

Neji simply insulted both of them in cool clear words.

And Sakura acted like a poisonous snake, filling Lee's ears with poisoned words filled with false declarations of burning passions and...

Kakashi turned out Gai's commentary, honestly when did he start listening to that? Instead he interrupted Gai.

"So, if somebody were to drink massive amounts of alcohol, say two three bottles of sake..." Sakura pulled out another bottled and chugged it's contents. "Make that four to five." Kakashi amended.

"And then kissed Lee... for quite some time..."

Gai stared at the girl, as she destroyed another bottle. "You mean that's alcohol?" He asked, paling.

"Yeah, pretty much. She's been drinking it since yesterday..."

"Oh no... this is bad..." Gai muttered, looking at Lee worriedly.

Kakashi glanced back, in the direction his students had run. Could they have known? If they knew of Sakura's plan to turn Lee... then their presence would indeed just hinder Sakura and removing themselves would be the right decision for teamwork...

"Ahh, Lee! Help!" Sakura screamed, winding herself frightened in Tenten's hands.

Tenten snorted in disgust. "Pathetic. And you call yourself a kunoi..." Lee's fist interrupted the girl, as it slammed into her face and send her into a tree, at the other end of the clearing.

Kakashi glanced at Gai. "Shouldn't they know better than to give Sakura that opening?" He asked.

Gai hung his head in shame. "Sadly the fires of youth burn brightly in them. As such, they don't always... think things through."

Kakashi snorted at that. All ninja started out as hot headed idiots. Even he himself had been like that. Not that he had been hotheaded, but certainly an idiot, who didn't think things through.

Neji stared in horror at the Tenten's body, crumpled at the ground of the tree she slammed into.

"I see I overestimated you Lee. You are even more of a failure than I thought." He sneered, stupidly in Kakashi's opinion. Didn't the fool realize what he was doing?

He glanced at Gai again... who repeatedly slammed his head into a tree.

"Something to work on I assume?" Kakashi said.

Gai didn't stop, but managed to work a nod into his head banging.

Kakashi glanced back at Sakura, who had just finished kissing Lee again.

"I believe in you Lee." She said, again perfectly audible for everybody in the clearing. And she smiled at him sweetly...

Damn, she looked as if she actually meant it! And like that, she looked so young... so much younger than he thought possible. He hadn't even realized just how old she seemed. Damn.

Lee gave her a thumbs up and charged Neji head on.

"Well, using his weakness against alcohol to make him fight against his team. A dirty tactic, but since it worked, it's hard to say anything against it." He watched as Lee fell to the ground five feet away from Neji, who glared at his fallen comrade.

"It's not that he's easily manipulated like that." Gai said, watching the catastrophe again.

"Huh?" Kakashi asked smartly.

"The last time he had alcohol..." Gai continued, as Neji attempted to hit Lee. Who fell in and out of Neji's fists again and again avoiding them by luck alone. Kakashi's eye narrowed just like Neji's.

Not luck... Neji simply couldn't predict...

"That's right. Lee's a natural master of the drunken fist. He destroyed the restaurant we celebrated in before we could stop him." Gai nodded.

"Do your other students know that?" Kakashi asked, quietly, he didn't trust his voice.

Gai didn't say anything, instead he watched the fight between Lee and Neji.

Which went well for the later. For a given value of well at least.

-o-

Neji glared at Lee, as he fell flat on his face. The fool had let the little girl influence him far too easy. And now he acted even worse than usual.

He didn't pay any attention to his teacher, ignoring him mostly had preserved too much of his sanity to start listening now.

Instead he focused on the stumbling Lee. He had heard the expression drunk on love, he had never expected to see a literal example though.

Oh well, he would just have to beat the love out of him. He could barely stop his sneer from showing. Whenever he let his disdain for Lee show too much Gai would become so much more annoying...

And finally the fool had reached him. Oh well, time to end this.

He stabbed Lee with a finger, closing some tenketsu on his left arm, switched targets quickly and shut down his right arm.

Neji stumbled back, eyes wide as he held his stomach. What had happened? He should have hit Lee there. Instead Lee had disappeared from his vision, arms suddenly out of reach, only to reappear a second later and slam his fist into Neji's stomach.

He coughed, maybe he would have to take this serious after all. Growling he charged the swaying affront to fashion sense, he did enjoy beating his self proclaimed rival. He should just accept his fate and Neji's superiority. It would be so much better for him, without driving himself into the ground.

His Byankugan active Neji sprang into action, sending his hands towards Lee again and again, slipping through the sloppy defenses, hitting every vital spot he could reach easi...

Lee slipped around his hands. Not always, sometimes Neji connected, but Lee still somehow avoided over three quarters of Nejis punches!

And Neji just couldn't react to the leg that shot up and slammed into his ribcage, sending him flying.

Neji spat on the floor, staring at Lee. He favored his side slightly, his left arm moved a little bit slower than before, but he would have little trouble continuing the fight.

Neji breathed in deeply. If he wanted to win, he would have to go all out. He growled, for Lee to drive him to this extreme... he glanced at Lees legs and winced.

Lee still wore his weights. He only took them off for sparing with Gai, to get accustomed to fighting without using them.

Neji had never been on the receiving end of Lee without the weights. And if Lee could do this much to him with them...

He growled, he couldn't loose to Lee, the boy currently gave the impression of a giant green worm, winding himself on the ground, trying to get up again.

He refused to loose to something like that!

And with a scream he charged.

Only to run into a hurricane of fists. When did Lee manage to spring up?

Scrambling backwards he weaved around Lee's fists, left, right, up, down, attacks rained down on him from everywhere. He winced as one punch slipped through his defense. He could use his ultimate defense, he hadn't perfected it yet, but he had the basics down.

He spotted an opening. A small one, but he took it, as Lee overextended his right arm slightly.

Neji's hand snacked out, hitting Lee's wrist, no! Lee had interrupted his attack and switched into a spinning kick at the last second.

As his face slammed into the ground Neji wondered how Lee had done it. How had he managed to turn a punch, into a spinning kick?

He groaned as he pushed himself up. Lee hadn't come out quite as unscathed as Neji had assumed. Even his near misses managed to disable at least some tenketsu. He glared at the girl standing at the sidelines, cheering Lee on.

The longer the fight went on the better for her. She would still be fresh, while Lee would be unconscious and he would be beaten up and low on chakra. Especially if he used the kaiten. Damn her.

He gave a yelp as he barely avoided another volley of fists, backing up again.

-o-

Sakura smirked as she watched Lee drive Neji before him.

Anybody with half a brain could see that Lee would loose. Even powered by the drunken fist, he just could just barely match Neji's speed and precision. And Neji's gentle fist already took it's toll, slowing him down more and more.

However, Neji had taken quite a beating already. And once Lee dropped, taking him out would be easy.

She chuckled evilly. Wannabees, who thought they knew what being a ninja entailed. Betrayal was such an integral part of being a ninja...

"Lee! Help!" She screamed again, as Tenten attacked her from behind. She had played dead, and now attempted to take Sakura out before Neji had finished Lee. Smart girl really.

But Lee just had so much more power and speed. And Sakura had so much more situational awareness.

She snickered, poor... what the hell?

Lee had charged Tenten of course, who could only stare at the oncoming green fighter with something akin to horror. Considering the glare on his face, understandable.

But suddenly she disappeared, only to reappear in the arms of Sasuke, twenty feet away from them.

Sasuke smiled at the girl. "Heh, sorry about this, but I couldn't let your comrade hurt you any more than this. Just goes against my religion to let a pretty girl get hurt by such unfair tactics."

Sakura snorted as the girl blushed. She noticed Sasuke's hand had strayed dangerously low and shook her head. He certainly had the touch, judging by Tenten's increasing blush.

He carefully set her down again. "Are you alright?"

"I... I didn't need your help." She attempted to glare at him.

She even succeeded. Somewhat. The blush didn't help her glare.

Sasuke shrugged easily. "Eh, it's just. I couldn't have defended myself against an attack from Naruto. Or Sakura, if they suddenly decided to attack me for a girl or a boy." He looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry." He muttered.

Tenten looked away, missing the slight smirk on Sasuke's face.

Sakura shook her head. Poor girl, to fall for him that easily.

What would she do if she ever came across a ninja who actually specialized in seduction?

For Sasuke it might as well be just a hobby.

Lee glared at the new arrival, just like Neji. "Lee, I thin Tenten actually touched me." Sakura distracted him, before he did something stupid, like attack Sasuke. Not that it wouldn't be funny. But she wanted to pass. Beating Sasuke could wait till after.

-o-

Naruto watched the scene in front of him with a lot of amusement. Most of team Gai had been reduced to blushing and stammering.

Only Neji still stood and he just glared impotently at everybody around him.

"Well, I expected this to go quite different if I'm honest." He said to Kakashi and Gai. "I expected some epic battle. Blood tears and sweat. Not cuddling and kisses."

Kakashi nodded, Gai glanced at him confused.

"But, since they decided to go down that route." Naruto's grin treated to split his face in half. "Might as well see if I can't knock that stick up Neji's ass lose a bit."

Now Gai and Kakashi stared at him in something approaching horror.

"Hey Hyuga!" He shouted, to catch Neji's attention.

"What do you want?" The boy in question spat. Glaring at everybody in the clearing. Naruto could see a few bruises on his face, where Lee had landed some punches despite Neji's near perfect defense.

"Take this! Harem no jutsu!"

Kakashi's eyes went wide. Gai chocked, Lee finally entered the realm of sleep complete with a blood red nose. Sakura just shook her head.

Sasuke activated his sharingan, recording the event for posterity... he what?

Naruto gaped at Sasuke, ignoring Tenten's reaction totally. Sasuke actually... oh god... he...

And suddenly sexy no jutsu became a forbidden jutsu. Who knew what Sasuke would do if he got his hands on a clone?

Naruto shuddered.

And focused his attention on Neji. Who hadn't destroyed the clones before they reached him.

He had developed a nice twitch in his left eye though. Naruto grinned, he might have resisted the worst of the jutsu, he might even resist it totally. But the objective had been met.

"Pathetic!" Neji screamed, though it did come out a bit garbled, before he sprung into action.

His hands flew, destroying clone after clone after clone. In five seconds all clones but one had been destroyed. And Neji stood alone at his place, panting heavily.

"Ohh, maybe the true Hyuuga bloodline doesn't extend just to the girls..." Sakura whistled.

Naruto couldn't help himself, he glanced down.

And up again, as soon as he could. He didn't need to see that!

Neji glanced down as well. And quickly up again. His stoic masked cracked quite nicely.

Naruto turned to Kakashi. "So, do we pass? We did manage to get the bells in under ten minutes and without a single scratch on us."

"What?" Shouted both Tenten and Neji.

Sasuke shrugged at the glaring girl. "Sorry, but if I can combine the pleasant with the necessary..." He winked at her.

Neji patted himself down desperately, then glanced at Naruto, who held his newly gained bell up grinning at the boy.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the failure here."

Neji's eyes widened in fury and he turned away.

-o-

Kakashi coughed. When Naruto said he hadn't expected it to go down like this, he had echoed Kakashi perfectly.

And this hadn't really been teamwork... but then, they just hadn't needed teamwork. They had just... attacked a weak-point int the enemy team and succeeded beyond all expectations.

"Err... I suppose you pass?" He muttered weakly. What else could he say? They had utterly beat Gai's team. Well, utterly ridiculed them. Same difference.

Neji fumed, glared and raged at the world at large.

Tenten glared at Sakura, who still had Lee in her lap. And Gai cried bitter tears, for the misfortune of his team.

It hadn't gone as planned, sure. But the outcome could be considered a win still.

Yes, this could be considered a win. He chuckled and turned towards his team.

"Though I suppose the old assessment was wrong. You aren't a heavy assault team."

Naruto looked at him in confusion. "Huh what do you mean? Of course we are an assault team."

Sasuke nodded, while Sakura ignored the world around her, in favor of petting Lee's unconscious body. Kinda creepy really. Though the smile she wore actually didn't scare him.

She seemed... happy, really.

"Well, you didn't do much attacking did you? Sasuke used pure seduction, Naruto used his feminine wiles and Sakura used alcohol and words to confuse Lee into attacking his teammates. So, a seduction team is a far more accurate description." He grinned at his genin.

Sasuke rubbed his chin in thought, his face scrunched up in thought. Naruto glared at Kakashi, muttering something about forbidden techniques and Oiroke. Sakura continued her petting, but she didn't focus on Lee anymore, instead she stared into the air.

"Finally!" Sasuke burst out, drawing all eyes to himself. "Finally somebody recognizes my talents!" He bowed to Kakashi, solemnly and with great elegance. "I for one am in favor of making team seven a seduction team." He winked at Tenten, who glared back, but couldn't hide her blush entirely.

"Yeah, seduction means parties. Parties among the rich and powerful. Which means the best alcohol available. Count me in." She licked her lips listing names of various alcoholic beverages.

Naruto glared at his teammates. "You guys suck!" He muttered.

"Only guys I like." Sakura retorted and provided Kakashi with way to much information.

"I'm reasonably sure I'm not gay." Sasuke interjected, giving Naruto an apologetic lock.

"Reasonably?" Tenten asked. Her blush had returned full force.

Sakura glared briefly at him and Naruto, Naruto turned green. "Reasonably?" He asked as well.

"Well, there was that guy... he was really, really pretty..." Sasuke shrugged.

Kakashi felt his visible eye twitch. Why did his genin feel the need to fill him in on their sex lives... why the hell did they even have sex lives? They were twelve, they were supposed to think the other gender was icky!

Ok he hadn't been like that. And Rin and Obito certainly hadn't. Ninja. And people wondered why they were all so messed up. Sexual tension, therein laid the problem. Certainly not in the massive trauma of loosing a comrade, team-leader or the asshole you were kinda, never, best friends with.

"I hate you all." Naruto shouted and turned around. Sasuke simply shook his head laughing.

"So we passed as a seduction team and will only get missions like that from now on right?" Sakura asked hopefully.

Kakashi returned her hopeful stare with his own deadpan one. "No." He said, dashing the hopes of the girl. "No free booze for you." He added, she had more than enough anyway.

"My eternal rival." Aww Gai was crying... again. "I must train my team better, if they could be bested by your team of academy students!" He wiped the tears away, his smile shining brightly. "I have to thank you my rival, for bringing this weakness to my attention."

Kakashi didn't smile. Nope he didn't nearly loose it at the misfortune his team had just unleashed on team Gai, minus Lee and Gai.

Maybe the Hyuuga would loose that stick up his ass from this.

He seemed to be in complete agreement with his own team there. Naruto openly laughed into Neji's face.

"I foresee a fate worse than dead Neji. Who's the failure now?" He taunted the boy.

Neji glared at him, eyes twitching. "I will accept any training Gai might have in mind for us." Neji said coldly.

Tenten didn't take it as well. "I will hunt you down Uchiha. You will pay for this. You hear me? Pay!" She rounded on Sakura. "And you," she stalked over glaring dead and destruction at his genin. "Let go of Lee already."

She grabbed Lee, and for a second Kakashi thought she might loose and arm. But Sakura restrained herself to a low growl, as Tenten snagged Lee away from her.

"To use Lee like that. Disgusting!" Tenten spat. "And then you'll drop him at the first opportunity for the sweet talker over here." The growl got louder. Damn, the girl knew how to talk herself into a hole.

"I know your type, weak little girls, playing at being a ninja, while you have no idea..." Kakashi, Gai, Naruto and Sasuke moved at once. Kakashi had barely reached Sakura in time to grab her hand, and stop it, a millimeter from Tenten's face. Or better, to stop the kunai a millimeter from Tenten's eye.

Sakura snarled, and Kakashi felt himself reminded of nothing so much as of an rabid animal.

-o-

How dare the little bitch? Sakura strained against the people restraining her. How dare she?

She wanted to kill her, rip her into pieces and piss on them.

She knew nothing! Nothing about what it meant to be a ninja, nothing about the loss, the pain and the loneliness.

Tenten didn't know anything but the safety of the village, and the peace real ninja had given their lives for. She snarled again, trying to kill the foolish little girl. Her killing intent driving the girl to her knees.

She could see her gripping the kunai and turn it onto herself. Just a little bit more...

"Sakura!" Kakashi slapped her, breaking her concentration and her fury. "Stop it now!" He shouted at her.

Tenten sat on the ground, eyes wide, breathing heavily, staring at Sakura in terror.

Neji stood a bit back, shaking madly. She grinned at him, all teeth and he shied back even further.

Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand just stared at her. Stared at her with those eyes, that held so much pity, so much...

She spat on the ground, in front of Tenten. "Don't you dare say I don't understand what it means to be a ninja little girl. I understand a lot better than a weakling like you." She shrugged Kakashi off and backed away.

She could feel his eyes on her, narrowed and worried. She might have just given herself a direct stay in Ibiki's cells. Damn.

"What was that about Sakura? You just tried to kill her." Kakashi's voice was hard and cold. Just like his eyes. "No matter how much she insulted you. You don't attack a ninja from Konoha with the intent to kill."

She chuckled darkly. "Even if that ninja betrayed Konoha? Even if they are called Itachi, Orochimaru... Madara?"

Kakashi flinched with each name. His eyes widened in shock at the last one.

"What? Madara is death." He muttered.

Sakura snorted. Though internally she was shouting at herself. This had been stupid, she shouldn't have lost control over a little thing like Tenten insulting her.

She glanced at the gibbering wreck on the floor. Just a girl, a stupid little girl, who couldn't know that Sakura wasn't just like her... she glanced back at Kakashi, damn, she had to give an explanation for why she acted like this... she glanced at Sasuke and why Sasuke didn't act like his old self. Damn, damn, damn.

-o-

Naruto cursed in his mind. He should have done something the second Tenten had opened her mouth. Even if he didn't know Sakura would react like that. He should have realized, that in many ways she was just like Sasuke. Extremely broken, maybe irreparably so.

And you couldn't just insult a person with so many problems like that.

And know? Now she had given Kakashi ample reason to be suspicious. Not that Naruto minded much. Maybe they couldn't avoid revealing themselves now. Certainly an outcome he could live with.

But... she looked around wildly. A caged animal. If Kakashi caught her now, she might just run. And from what she told him she might just run to Madara... damn it. They couldn't reveal themselves yet.

A plan, a plan and fast. Madara... Madara...

"Who's Madara?" He asked, there might just be an out there, let the bastard be useful for once.

Sakura whipped her head around and stared at him. Madness shining in her eyes, madness and paranoia.

Sasuke shuddered, but took his cue.

"He's one of the founders of the Uchiha, he fought the Hokage at the valley of the end." He said.

Naruto nodded. "So, he was a traitor?" He asked. Sakura twitched.

Kakashi answered this one. "Yeah, but the Hokage killed him."

Naruto had great trouble to suppress that snort. Sakura didn't even bother.

Sasuke just looked away, shaking his head. "No he didn't." He whispered.

Both Gai and Kakashi gasped.

"I." Sasuke stopped and looked at Team Gai, still shell shocked from Sakura's attack. "Maybe they shouldn't listen... they don't need." He looked at Naruto, then at Sakura. "She certainly didn't take it well." He muttered.

Naruto wanted to kiss him. Suspicion deflected, for now. Sasuke had bought them time to get Sakura to calm down. However unlikely that turned out to be. Still they had to try.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, looking between Sakura and Sasuke worriedly.

Sasuke looked at team Gai again. "They should leave, this is... private." He whispered.

Kakashi looked at Gai, who nodded and rounded up his genin. "I'll leave you to it Kakashi. This is your team after all."

He looked at Sakura, his eyes going strangely soft. Naruto didn't know whether he could look at somebody who had just tried to kill a student of his. But Gai managed.

"Young lady." A snort from Sakura, who guzzled another bottle. "I know whatever you have seen must have been hard." Sakura coughed as the alcohol went down the wrong pipe and glared at Gai.

And now Gai's eyes were hard, harder even than Kakashi's. "But if you attempt to hurt one of my students again, I will break you. Is that clear?"

Sakura looked back, eyes as hard as Gai's, narrowed and cold they glared at each other. Neither willing to back down.

Naruto hissed. "Sakura!"

She wrenched her eyes away. "It's clear." She muttered sullenly. "I'm sorry, it's just. She doesn't know, she doesn't understand just how... what's waiting... and yet she insults me..."

Gai nodded, his eyes had softened again. "I can't understand what you went through, but... I perfectly understand why you would react like that." He laughed, it sounded... somehow pure. "I know I wanted to kill a lot of people, who presumed they knew the pain I went through, the sacrifices I made. And I do appreciate, that you want to get to know Lee better."

The glare was back. "But I'm afraid as long as you can't control yourself, I can't allow you near Lee. Especially with the amount of alcohol you drink."

He nodded at Kakashi, picked up Lee and left a Sakura who looked from Lee to her bottle and back.

Wow, that might just be more effective than anything Naruto might have come up with, to stop her drinking.

"Well, we are alone now." Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke, with that deceptive boredom he could fake so well.

-o-

He was screwed. Sasuke realized. Well and truly screwed. Not only did he have no idea what actually happened on the massacre, he had no idea how he could work Sakura into this.

He looked at the girl, who had just displayed a level of rage... god the kyuubi might become jealous, he would have to check that with Naruto at some point.

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow. Oh god, he needed to stall!

He looked at Naruto, who nodded once, quickly.

"Madara helped Itachi?" He asked, and Sasuke nodded, slowly. That actually made a lot of sense, Itachi alone wouldn't have been able to slaughter the entire clan, even he would sooner or later run out of chakra.

"Yeah." He whispered. Now how did that explain Sakura turning from docile lamb into vicious bloodhound?

"And..." He continued, seeking out her eyes. She looked away, but he could see her guilt and disgust. That she would be in his dept! That had to irk her more than anything. Damn, it would make things even more difficult with her. And just as they had gotten so much better.

"and Sakura had been there as well. She had seen him." Sasuke finished. Now he just needed a plausible explanation for why she didn't die with the clan.

Kakashi gasped and looked at Sakura. "How much did you see?" he asked.

Sakura shuddered and took a deep gulp from the bottle.

Sasuke noticed that her hands were shaking.

"Everything." She whispered. Sasuke strained to hear anything. "I saw him, saw him cut down that kid. Itachi I mean." Sasuke could see her crying, she sniffled and wiped the tears away. "And, and so many others. He just kept cutting and cutting them down. I was, I kept myself hidden beneath one of the benches. I didn't think he noticed me. But... but..."

Her breathing came heavy now. And she shook like a leaf in the wind.

"He looked at me! He looked at me and smiled, covered in blood and parts and...and..." She stopped, curled up and simply whimpered on the floor, the bottle forgotten beside her.

Kakashi slowly approached her and picked her up into an awkward hug, gently rocking her back and forth.

Sasuke decided to continue the story. He suspected she hadn't told them of the Uchiha massacre at all, but of one she had experienced later, much later. Maybe at the hands of one of her Sasuke's ninja, maybe her Naruto's chakra beasts.

"I... didn't know about it back then." He said, he doubted he would be in a much better condition than her.

Naruto nodded. "You came after it was all over didn't you? You mentioned it, after that thing with Sakura happened yesterday."

Sasuke wanted to give Naruto a thumbs up, for the idea.

"Yeah. Yesterday, after our teams were announced, she came up to me. Said something about a genjutsu she learned. She acted kinda weird. Like... I dunno, in trance? Murmured something about paying the bastard back, finally." Yeah, that was good. Explained why he acted different too.

She used the genjutsu Madara used to wipe her memory of the day on him because... damn it why would Madara just wipe her memory? It didn't make any sense.

"He said." Sakura piped up, holding onto Kakashi with enough strength to make the man wince. "He said, he might need me one day. And beside, I wasn't an Uchiha, so he had no reason to hurt me." She giggled madly. "As if he hadn't hurt me already." She buried her face in Kakashi's shoulder.

Sasuke remained quite. He had no idea how to continue. Well he had, the direction had been set and all, but. He didn't like lying to his teacher. What he had said up till now might in some way shape or form be considered the truth... if you were very very drunk... and on drugs and poisoned and insane.

But if he continued now, he would really be lying.

Luckily he didn't have to, Naruto decided to finish the story.

"Yesterday, whatever that guy, Madara used on her stopped working for some reason. They didn't really tell me anything, no details but she used something on Sasuke and man, were there a lot of hand-seals in it." He mimicked somebody running through a lot of seals real fast.

"And suddenly Sasuke stopped scowling, he actually, you know, smiled." Naruto looked down.

"But Sakura stopped smiling." He glanced at her, her face still buried in Kakashi's shoulder. "And started drinking. Dunno how she keeps going."

"Read bout it." Kakashi's shoulder said.

"There's a jutsu you can use to remove most of the alcohol you drink from your blood and store the poisonous elements in your body." She hiccuped. "You can expel the alcohol as a weapon once you have gather enough."

And blew her nose on Kakashi's shirt.

Sasuke didn't smile. Surprisingly easy that.

Kakashi grimaced, but patted Sakura's head, trying to pry her of his shoulder.

"I see." He muttered, pulling her up and handed her her bottle. "Here, take a swig." She grabbed the bottle greedily and drank in deep gulps, until no liquid reached her lips.

Taking a shaking breath, she wiped away her last tears and looked into Kakashi's eyes. "I'm sorry cap... sensei." She bowed her head. "I should have controlled myself better, what happened is in..."

Kakashi laid a finger on her lips. "I think under the circumstances. Your loss of control is... understandable."

Sasuke nodded, he bought it! He actually bought it! Luck is with those who think on their feet after all.

"Yeah, as I said yesterday. It will probably take a while to deal with the emotions. It took me four years... and I still hadn't dealt with them. Only because of that weird jutsu... I... I'm calmer now."

Heh, saying one thing and meaning something entirely different, fun.

"So, what now?" Sasuke asked, looking at Kakashi expectantly.

Kakashi in turn looked at all of them. Sakura, who stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact with them all.

Naruto frowned worriedly at Sakura. And Sasuke just stared back, into that unreadable eye.

"Well, I'll have to talk to the Hokage about this, obviously." Kakashi said after a minute. "Sakura might have to go in for evaluation, to make sure she's fit for service." He shook his head.

"If she can't get over this, she might have to quit being a ninja." He looked at Sakura sadly, who had briefly looked at him. But after hearing that, she turned away again.

"In the mean time however, you are my team. As I said you guys passed." He smiled widely at them. "If the Hokage gives me permission, we start work tomorrow. Meeting point is the bridge to the training grounds. Dismissed."

With a flash Kakashi disappeared, leaving the genin to their own devices.

Or appeared to at least. Sasuke could still feel him. An ordinary genin probably wouldn't. But Sasuke hadn't been ordinary, ever.

He glanced at Naruto, who simply gave him a hand sign. Later then, in real privacy.

He made his way to Sakura, still slumped on the ground.

"You want to go eat something? Maybe replenish you stash?" He offered her a hand.

Staring blankly at it for a second she finally pushed it away and herself up. "I... thanks, but no. I'll, I'll go think about stuff." She sighed and walked away. But just before she had left their field of vision she stopped. "And... thanks, for... you know." Another flash and she was gone.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Even if she had nearly killed a comrade, especially because she nearly killed a comrade. The little things like that, convinced him she would be worth saving.

Naruto walked up to him, a heavy frown on his face. "Well, that could have gone better." He said, watching the spot from where Sakura had disappeared.

Kakashi had gone as well, leaving them truly alone.

"Yeah. Thanks for the pulling my ashes from the fire there."

Naruto shrugged. "No problem, couldn't let Sakura mess this up for herself, could I?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No you couldn't."

Cocking his head he sighed. "It's not the same."

Naruto glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "What isn't?"

Sasuke grinned slightly at Naruto. "Flirting. Whenever I flirted with a girl back home Sakura would drag me back at the ear. She was kinda possessive." He smiled sadly. He wondered how things were back home...

And shut the thought down hard. Better not think about it. Ever.

Naruto snorted, but nodded. "I can see that. Very funny image actually."

"It's your regular entertainment really." Sasuke grinned.

"You hungry?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, all this drama really drains you."

"Well then, let's go. Time to get stuffed." Naruto shouted cheerfully.

Sasuke could see he had to force himself sightly, pushing the worry away. But there was enough real cheer in there to not bother him overly much.

After all, if Naruto didn't feel troubled at all... well that would be so much worse.

-o-

Kakashi watched Sakura take off alone. Not that he blamed her, after what just happened he would need some alone time as well.

He watched his other students, the didn't talk much, not that could hear them from this distance, or even read their lips with any accuracy. But he just bet they knew he still hung around.

He wanted to grin, really he did. They had proven their mettle today. If only Sakura hadn't revealed that side of her. He shuddered. It reminded himself of nothing so much as the Kyuubi. The same hatred and disregard for anything else. The same blood thirst. Only contained in a human. A little girl at that.

Disturbing on many levels.

He had been oh so tempted to fail them all then and there, hand them over to Ibiki for a full mental evaluation... well hand over Sakura and be done with it.

But then they had come up with that beautiful story, played hints and tips to each other and managed to paint a very intriguing picture. A picture that kinda fit their shift in personality and would explain everything.

Sadly it also wouldn't hold up to even the most cursory investigation. He had spotted a few holes her and there, the most glaring being the one where they started to act strange before yesterday.

Off by a day and explainable by the excitement revelations like that would bring with it, never mind the shock of Sakura's reaction just minutes ago.

Still, the story didn't hold up. But for now he didn't have an adequate explanation and he seriously doubted they were spies. As he thought before, spies just weren't this incompetent. And nobody would send emotionally unstable people like Sakura to spy anyway. And he had no doubt, whatever else had been true about their story, that Sakura had experienced the slaughter she described.

There had been far, far too much real pain there, pain that had been released for the first time in ages.

He had seen a breakdown like that before. One of his subordinates... he had kept it all bottled in, never complaining about the mission, never even mentioning it. And then, one day he flipped out, attacked some civilian for a wrong word. Luckily, just like here comrades had been on hand.

The results were remarkably similar. The same release, the same story, only the details were different.

He had been removed from active duty of course. But after 4 weeks he returned. Much more balanced, with many more smiles.

Kakashi had never been sure if that hadn't simply been a new mask, one to replace the stoic one he wore before, or if Ibiki had simply brainwashed him.

In the end, Kakashi decided it didn't matter. He had kept an eye on him, made sure that no civilian said something that could set him off and the guy had become a competent ninja again.

Hopefully with Sakura a few weeks of D-Rank missions would have the same result.

He looked back at his students and decided to give the boys some privacy. He did need to talk to the Hokage about this. Whether he wanted to keep them or not.

-o-

Tenten shivered as she walked in front of Gai. That girl had tried to kill her. And if it hadn't been for the rest of her team and Gai she would have succeeded. Actually she might have succeeded regardless, just by spiking that ridiculous killing intent at her.

"Sensei." She began, still trying to get her shaking under control. "What... what did she do there."

She could still see Sakura's eyes. Crazy and wild, blood lust shining within. "I, I would have killed myself if you hadn't stopped her." She shuddered, how could that little slip of a girl produce so much killing intent? You had to be a jonin or something to do that.

Gai, Lee still slung over his shoulder, sleeping off his buzz, continued walking. But she could see him thinking.

She glance at Neji, who walked quietly behind them. He had been shaken as well, in fact he was still shaking.

"Do you know what killing intent is?" Gai finally asked.

She nodded, of course she did, every genin did. "It's your chakra, saturated with your desire to kill the enemy." She said quickly. Talking actually seemed to help with the aftereffects.

"Yes. It's a good description. Wrong of course, but a good description nevertheless." Gai nodded, as they reached their own training ground and set Lee down, against a log.

Tenten blinked, but that had been what they were taught in the academy.

"Neji, would you try to give a more factual description?" Gai asked.

Neji studied Gai for a second then nodded, slowly. "I would have said the same. However, now that you mentioned the mistake I can see where it is." He pointed at the village. "Even civilians can display killing intent. Of course, they don't have chakra, or better nowhere near the quantities we have, and certainly no control over it."

He paused and breathed in, finding his center again and finally stopped shaking. Tenten hadn't duplicated the feat yet.

"But even so, they can, under the right circumstances, reach an impressive level of killing intent." He continued. "So I would assume a better description is the desire to kill projected and enhanced by your chakra. The more chakra you have, the stronger the killing intent."

Gai nodded and looked at Tenten. "Exactly, so you see, killing intent is a lot like genjutsu, you chakra acts as a conduit for your thoughts, making your enemy see things you want them too."

He gave her one of his smiles. "Can you tell me why hers is so strong, even without the massive chakra required to reach this level of killing intent?"

She frowned, how could you reach that amount of killing... think Tenten! Think. How did she project her own killing intent? She just kinda... did...

"She focuses on projecting it. She isn't just releasing it unconsciously, she's doing it quite deliberately! She uses her killing intent as an actual weapon." She exclaimed.

Gai nodded happily. "That's correct. It's not something a lot of ninja do, due to it's rather limited effectiveness against opponents of a certain level. You'll notice neither me nor Kakashi were affected."

Neji snorted.

"Much." Gai conceded.

"Neither were her teammates." Neji added.

Now Gai blinked, and looked at Neji. "Well I suppose..."

"Why weren't they affected? They are just fresh genin. They should have been affected worse than we were." Tenten asked.

They had been through over 10 C-Rank missions and yet these genin had walked over them, as if they were nothing! How could that be? It was as if all their training meant nothing.

Gai sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tenten, both Sasuke and Naruto didn't have an easy life. Sasuke especially, he already had experienced something like this once before. And, he was extremely lucky to make it out alive."

He looked at her, but he didn't seem to see her.

"Maybe Sakura had been there as well..."

He glanced at the Hokage monument for a second, before his gaze returned to her.

"And Naruto has his own burden to bear. Quite a heavy burden. You shouldn't feel bad because they already have enough bad memories to deal with something like this better."

She shuddered at the reprimand. What kind of childhood did it take to stand up to that sort of killing intent?

Neji also looked down. She knew his childhood hadn't been all that pleasant either, and still he had been affected... damn it this was insane.

"We need to be stronger then." Neji said, his eyes narrowed. "We have training to do."

Gai nodded, smiling proudly at them.

"But still, can you believe how she used Lee?" She growled, no matter how bad your childhood, using somebody as gullible as Lee... despicable.

Gai raised an eyebrow. "Used him?"

Neji rolled his eyes. "It was clear from the second she accepted that kiss, that she planed to use him against us." He sneered. "She might have some skill, but if she had stood in an open fight, she would have lost."

Tenten nodded, glaring in the direction they had just come from. "Yeah, as soon as she finished with us she would have dropped Lee."

Gai didn't smile anymore, instead he watched them sadly. "And that is the reason you lost." He sighed.

Tenten gaped at him, Neji barely managed to restrain himself from doing the same, instead he glowered.

"What do you mean? Were we supposed to let her turn Lee on us?" Tenten burst out.

"Of course not." Gai said, tears streaming down his face. "But if you didn't want her to turn him against you, why did you help her then?" He had pulled a handkerchief from somewhere and blew into it.

Tenten didn't know what to say. Here her teacher said that she had helped that little tease to turn Lee away from his teammates. She looked out for him, made sure he didn't fall for one of those girls, who only cared about their own advantage and Gai said she helped her?

She glanced at Neji, who stared at Gai with open disbelieve. Wow, Gai managed to rattle him once again.

Gai honked dramatically in his handkerchief, then put it away. To where she had no idea and frankly, she didn't want to know.

He knelt beside Lee and pulled something out, a little note.

"It seems Neji, your eyes aren't quite as powerful as you say they are, if you miss something like this." He held the note out for them to read.

Tenten continued to stare at the note for a good five minutes. It just didn't make sense. What kind of girl would invite somebody like Lee to spend the night with her?

Sure he was loyal, hard working and nice. But the spandex, the poses, the flowery speeches!

Neji had developed a twitch she noticed.

"Lee... girlfriend... Lee! Girlfriend!" He muttered.

"I'll admit, I had my doubts as well." Gai put his hands on their shoulder, after he collected the note, complete with lipstick kiss, from their numb fingers. "But once he passed out, those doubts had been wiped away. Nobody who didn't care looks at somebody like that." He nodded, full of conviction.

"Sakura cares deeply for Lee. If it is true love." Hearts and flowers appeared behind him. Damn it, some day she would learn how he created those genjutsu and she would shut him down. "Or merely a briefly burning romance. I will support my cute student to the full extend of my abilities." He finished in his nice guy pose.

Tenten groaned, this just wouldn't end well.

Neji just continued to gibber uselessly. She hit him over the head. "Cut it out, it's not that implausible." She growled.

Neji stared at her, then pointed the impossible out. "Lee! Girlfriend!" He said, with his usual eloquence.

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, stranger things have happened."

Neji just had to ask, apparently. "Lee? Girlfriend?" Well that did provide a valid point.

"Just because I can't think of it happening doesn't mean it didn't." She defended herself.

Neji shook his head. "Lee girlfriend."

Huffing Tenten turned towards Gai, who had followed the exchange with a flat glare.

"What should we have done then? Nothing? She would have gotten Lee's bell then." She said.

"Exactly." Her insane teacher replied.

What did she ever do to deserve this team? Did she start the first great ninja war? Was that it?

"But she would have the bell and set Lee against us!" She whined. Neji supported her with energetic nodding.

"No, she would have gotten his bell. If you had been supportive you would have send a drunk Lee against her comrades." Gai countered.

Which, actually was a valid point. Damn him.

She hung her head. "I, I, yeah, you are right sensei."

"Instead you enabled her to use your actions against you. Using your own words to lace her poison with honey!" Gai cried again.

"Well, in order to make up for this mistake we will have to train harder." He grinned at them, thumbs up teeth out.

Tenten whimpered, this wouldn't end well at all.

"Lee my student wake up!"

-o-

Sakura sat underneath a great tree, hidden by shadows from the world she nibbled at her last bottle.

She had lost it, totally and utterly lost it. Over a stupid thing like an insult! Over Lee!

Sure, he was a great guy and she wouldn't mind spending a lot of nights with him, she grinned perversely. But still, she should have more control.

She had never flown of the handle back home. It had never even occurred to her that she had a problem with her temper.

Though now that she thought about it, since the only thing she ever did with other humans she met back there, involved killing them a lot, she might just never have gotten the opportunity to get pissed.

Very likely that.

She curled up on herself, outside she could hear the giant animals of the forest of death, howling in their search for food.

Unnerving in a way. She remembered the forest dead and empty. Only the skeletal trees remained, many broken but enough intact to make for a nice hideout.

She sighed. And she would have to thank the idiots. They had protected her, or better her easy life.

Not that she thought Kakashi had bought the story they told him. Her captain wouldn't fall for something so full of holes.

But he would want to investigate, which meant he wouldn't send her to Ibiki if he didn't have to.

Through a small hole she could see a small piece of the sky. Every now and gain a small fluffy cloud hid it from view.

She smiled slightly. Back, before Madara found her, she had often watched clouds like this. There hadn't been much to do, sitting in the ruins of Konoha. With nobody around but monsters and animals.

And the longer she had lived in the forest the less there were of either.

She listened to the sounds of life above her.

It sounded good.

-o-

Naruto slurped down his third bowl of delicious ramen, while Sasuke downed his second. Both boys hadn't talked much, after they left the training ground.

Naruto hadn't been sure what to say and Sasuke had been lost in thought.

"What are we going to do with her?" Sasuke set his bowl down and looked at Naruto, it was clear that he expected him to come up with something.

"The way she acted. It was more like she was an animal." He trailed off. "A bit like the Kyuubi really."

Naruto nodded, it scarred him, seeing her like this. But he refused to give up. He hadn't for Sasuke and he had betrayed them all. He wouldn't for Sakura, who may or may not, have succumbed to the same darkness.

"I dunno." He muttered. "We have to control her somehow. I mean, it's obvious she lost her self control at some point." He stared into his bowl of ramen. "Even if she had always been kinda violent..."

Sasuke nodded solemnly. "True, she kinda liked beating me over the head whenever I did something stupid." He rolled his eyes. "Anko always said I deserved it, whenever Sakura did it."

Hmm, again with Anko. Sasuke mentioned her quite often...

"What's it with you and Anko by the way?" Naruto just had to ask.

"Huh? Oh she was our genin sensei." He asked grinning.

A whimper escaped Naruto's lips. And he had survived? Relatively sane?

Sasuke was a better man than Naruto, that was for sure. He doubted he could ever have survived Anko's teaching methods.

"What's wrong with Anko? She was great, always nice, gave us challenging training and exiting missions. Also all kinds of great advice." Sasuke frowned at him.

"Uhh... well, our Anko... well I think she would get along great with Sakura." Naruto stammered.

And nearly wept. If Anko and Sakura ever got to meet each other, and didn't start fighting on the spot...

-o-

Anko wondered why she felt like cackling madly. But then, she didn't bother figuring out her feelings, she followed them whenever she could get away with it.

So she cackled madly, in the middle of the marked.

-o-

"Aaaaanyway." Naruto said, ridding himself of the uncomfortable thought. "We need to find a way to uhh calm her down?" He looked at Sasuke questioningly.

"I believe the term was control." He answered.

"Well yeah, control." Naruto looked into around, trying to find a solution.

A little girl dragged her puppy behind her on a leash, away from the butchers shop.

"Heh, too bad we can't put a leash one her eh Sasuke?" He joked. Man that would be funny.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"Sasuke? You there?" Naruto turned to him and stared into a smile. A smile he had seen a lot, especially in his travels with Jirayia.

A smile the dirty old pervert got every time he peeped on girls, or wrote in his book.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" He asked the boy carefully. Making every effort to keep his voice neutral.

"Hmm?" Sasuke asked, his eyes unfocused.

"Sasuke, what are you thinking about?"

"Hmm Sakura in nothing but a leash?" He answered dreamily.

One minute later Naruto's brain rejoined the world of the living.

It had been a pleasant fantasy. Maybe they should try to get Sakura...

A minute later the shaking stopped.

"You are aware that if you ever approach her with that idea, she'll rip out your throat with her teeth aren't your?" He asked Sasuke.

Sasuke blinked, shuddered and nodded. "Yeah. So that idea's out. Pity."

"God damn it. Anko turned you into a pervert!" Naruto shouted.

"Geez you are as much of a prude here as back home." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Gaping Naruto stared at the boy. Prude? Him?

He pointed at himself wildly. "Me? Prude?" He asked.

"Yeah, you." Sasuke shrugged. "One more bowl please." He asked Teuchi.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!" Naruto screamed, revealing his most sexy creation yet.

Naruto turned back, sharingan in full force.

"Prude?" Naruto nearly shouted in his face.

"What would you do if Jirayia stood in front of a strip-club?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"What the hell kinda question is that? I would get the hell away from that place, before he manages to drag me in!" Naruto shouted back.

"The defense rests." Sasuke shrugged again and turned back to his ramen.

Leaving Naruto there, in sexy form, jaw hanging down, utterly beaten.

A Minute later he dispelled the form, and sat down again.

The additional guests, that had suddenly joined them, groaned in disappointment and turned back to the ramen they had ordered.

"So, still have the problem with Sakura." Naruto said, dropping the previous conversation.

Sasuke sighed. "Let's give her some time. Maybe that's all she needs. I mean, how much contact did she have anyway... how used is she to social..."

He looked around the full stall.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I get your point." He pulled out a few bills and laid them out on the counter.

"No need for that Naruto. Today's meal is free." Teuchi grinned. Ayame glared at her father, but said nothing.

"Huh? Thanks old man." Naruto laughed.

"Mine too I assume? I'm kinda the one who made him do it." Sasuke interjected.

Teuchi laughed. "Yeah kid, your meals free too. Visit me again will you? It's good to see some friends of his."

Sasuke nodded, ginning cheerfully. "I will!"

Well, he had no idea what that was about. And something told him, he didn't want to know what it was about either. Still, free ramen made the day a win in his book.

Hopefully Sakura would return to normal tomorrow.

-o-

Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage, watching the man sort through a few papers, he had been reading before Kakashi had entered.

"Kakashi, what can I do for you? I assume this is about team 7?" He sighed. "They didn't pass?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, they did. But..." He shifted uncomfortably.

"Naruto didn't give you any trouble did he?"

Kakashi coughed. "Err no not Naruto."

"Sasuke then? The boy went through so much..." The Hokage looked down sadly.

"Not him either." Kakashi muttered.

Sarutobi looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Sakura? Sakura Haruno gave you trouble?" He asked, disbelieve dripping form his voice.

"Yes." Kakashi said simply. He actually hadn't been able to come up with a way to voice this without sounding insane.

"What did she do? Did she try to kidnap Sasuke or something?" Sarutobi asked, head in his hand.

"Not really." Kakashi sighed. "I think I best start from the beginning, when explaining the situation."

The Hokage nodded.

"Well, during the introduction yesterday, they revealed some rather interesting tidbits of knowledge." And nobody needed to know that they actually managed to be later than him, while still technically being on time. Nobody would ever find out!

"They also displayed some advanced skills and an inflated opinion of themselves, so I decided to take them down a peg or two."

Half closed eyes regarded him suspicious. "Taking them down a peg or two? What did you do Kakashi?"

He coughed again. "I err, recruited Gai's team to help me with the test." He admitted.

"You did what?" The Hokage shouted. "Are you insane? Gai's team will eat those kids alive!"

Kakashi scratched his head, grinning proudly. "If by eat alive you mean, be crushed utterly, then yes, yes they would."

The angry eyes blinked in confusion. "What?"

"My team managed to utterly beat Gai's in the contest. Only Gai's team sustained any damage. Mine was entirely unscathed."

Oh this look of utter confusion on the old man's face was gold! If only he had a camera.

"How? How could they beat Gai's team?" He asked, after a full minute of silence.

"Err, well Sakura kinda seduced Lee and kissed him." Kakashi admitted.

"And Lee's teammates just stood there?"

"Well, after it became clear that Lee was very very drunk... and Naruto and Sasuke had fled, they kinda tried to separate..."

"Lee was drunk?" The Hokage interrupted him. "And Naruto and Sasuke fled..."

Well, now he felt like the worst liar ever. This must be how Obito felt every time he made those excuses.

"Yes. It seems they knew what happens if Lee get's drunk." He explained.

"But how did he get drunk?"

"Sakura kissed him." He said. It wasn't exactly a difficult concept to understand.

"And that induces drunkenness." Sarutobi deadpanned.

"Yes?" Kakashi asked. What else was it supposed to do? He felt certain, that if he wandered too close to Sakura he would wake up with a hangover the next day as well.

"Why?"

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know. Sorry." Kakashi chuckled. How silly of him.

"Kakashi, I'm waiting."

"Err yes, well Sakura did drink about 10 bottles of Sake today, it's to be expected really." He shrugged his shoulder.

Sarutobi's head hit his desk.

"What did I do to deserve this Kakashi?" He asked.

"Now that, should be fairly self evident." Kakashi glared at the man. "You stuck me with a team! And I have to explain them already being messed up enough to have their own quirks!"

He smiled behind his mask.

"Oh, also they tell me Madara is alive and kicking, and helped Itachi kill all the Uchiha."

Wow, that did it, Sarutobi just stopped working and did his best to imitate a statue. This could take a while.

-o-

"So, what you are saying is, that Sasuke is currently under a genjutsu developed by Madara, used on Sakura to suppress her emotions, after she witnessed the massacre, which failed recently, so she used it on Sasuke, to at least temporarily give him the ability to deal with his loss.

"All the while Naruto has witnessed her using it on Sasuke. And Sakura is a fully functioning drunk, thanks to a highly complicated jutsu she read about in a book."

The Hokage summed up team seven's rather impressive fabrication.

"Well, that's what they say." Kakashi shrugged.

"Right, did they honestly think you would fall for that?" The Hokage pinched his nose.

Again Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. But I think they just wanted to give me something to investigate. It is kinda plausible and does, kinda, explain their shifts in personality."

"You didn't think about them being replaced by spies?" The Hokage asked.

"What kind of spies, would be so incompetent?" Kakashi countered. "After they managed to take their place? No, there is something going on with them, and I want permission to investigate."

"Well, there are several possibility, as for why a spy would act like that, a distraction, inducing a witch-hunt..." The Hokage replied.

"True, but honestly? If they can somehow sneak into Konoha, transplant the eyes of an Uchiha, extract the Kyuubi from Naruto and reseal it in one of their spies, then insert them back into Konoha... without anybody noticing. Well I would say we might as well call it a day and close Konoha down." Kakashi replied blandly. "I still want permission to investigate. I would have spend the time with them anyway, so no loss if they are spies."

They stared at each other for a minute, then the Hokage nodded. "Alright. Permission granted. But you have to make sure Sakura isn't a risk to anybody in the village. And keep a very, very good eye on them. They are all dangerous... and in danger."

Kakashi nodded, he knew that. But they were also his students. And, Sakura had held him... that wasn't the way you hugged somebody you just met yesterday.

He reminded her of somebody, somebody she lost. How she already lost somebody so close to her, especially with nobody ever noticing.

Well, that would be one of the things he planed to investigate. And hopefully he wouldn't have to throw his students to Ibiki.

-o-

Here's chapter three, hope you guys enjoy.


	4. Wanderlust

Fragments

-o-

Wanderlust

-o-

Tora carefully peeked out of his hiding place.

He could feel the hunter. The entire forest could feel the hunter.

Its bloodlust seemed to drip from every leaf, every stick, every stone within the forest.

Shaking Tora ran to another hiding space. Normally he enjoyed these escapes, the brief freedom they promised. The game of hide and seek with those funny two-legs.

He almost smirked. Scratching them up, when they finally caught him always amused him.

But today? Today the forest terrified him. He should have stayed home, no matter how unpleasant. It just had to be safer than this.

-o-

Kakashi stared at his students. No, not students, student.

Sakura crept through the forest, eyes twitching wildly in every direction. Her nose held in the wind, searching for the faintest whiff of their target.

Every now and again she stopped and listened to the forest. Staying perfectly still.

Her smile, once again, disturbed him the most. Not even because she had that demented and sadistic one plastered on her face. No, he had learned to deal with that one... and as long as he never let her near any small children, again, they should have no more problems with it.

But this new one... it somehow managed to transform her yet again. Where her other smiles transformed her from old woman, to young girl, to demented psycho, this one turned her into a... well, bloodhound. A bloodhound who enjoyed herself immensely.

"You know?" Whispered Sasuke to Naruto. "I think we might have to stop her from killing and eating the cat."

Naruto glanced back at Sasuke. An evil gleam was in his eyes. "I wouldn't worry about it Sasuke, I'm perfectly sure she knows what to do with it." An angelic smile had slipped onto Naruto's face.

Neither Kakashi and Sasuke bought it.

"Don't tell me, you had a run in with Tora and he didn't like you." Sasuke sighed.

"The cat deserves whatever Sakura has in store for it." Naruto held steadfast.

"Well, we won't get paid if we deliver grilled cat." Kakashi pointed out quite reasonably.

"Meh, I doubt we could even deliver it. I bet Sakura would just eat the evidence." Naruto considered it for a second. "Bones and all."

Kakashi and Sasuke looked at girl, crouched on the ground, her eyes closed, slowly bleeding killing intent into the forest.

They looked at each other and nodded. Sakura would devour the entire cat and not leave any evidence. No doubt about it.

"Naruto, you will stop Sakura from eating the cat." Kakashi decided. "And that's an order, understood?" He overrode Naruto's protests.

"Spoilsport." Muttered the brat.

"Sasuke, you capture Tora and make sure it stays safe."

Sasuke nodded with apparent relieve. "Got it sensei."

At least somebody had some respect for him. The other two never showed any.

Suddenly Sakura opened her eyes and shot away, running through the forest with breakneck speed.

"Follow her!" Kakashi shouted. "Naruto make sure the cat at least survives long enough to hand it over to the client!"

Naruto nodded, as he dashed away. Sasuke and Kakashi were hot on his heels.

Maybe they shouldn't take on D-Rank missions. They were more than competent enough to take C-Ranks... screw that, they could pull of B-Rank assassinations. He wouldn't be surprised if Sakura could do them on her own.

He felt a horrifying spike of killing intent shortly ahead. Hopefully the cat wouldn't die from a heart attack.

He caught a bird as it fell out of the air.

Well, shit. "Sasuke, get the cat out of..."

Sasuke raced past him, the cat pressed to his chest, Sakura hot on his heels.

"It's mine! I caught it! I get to eat it!" The girl screamed, as she hunted her pray.

"Catch!" Kakashi shouted at her and threw the bird.

Sakura's head swirled to him, and locked onto the bird. Her eyes narrowed just long enough for Naruto to jump onto her back, pinning her to the ground.

"Damn it Sakura, get a hold of yourself." The boy shouted into her ear, a hand raised, ready to slap some sense into her.

Sakura blinked and some humanity returned to her eyes.

Which instantly narrowed at Naruto, who straddled her in a rather compromising postion.

"Off. Now." Sakura hissed.

Wow, it always impressed Kakashi just how fast his students could move if properly motivated.

"Is it safe yet?" Sasuke asked, peeking at them from behind a tree. "Luckily Tora's a fighter. Otherwise I think that killing intent would have... well killed him."

Sakura shrugged and stayed silent.

"Drat." Naruto muttered.

Kakashi looked at the cat, who seemed to be slowly calming down, now that the killing intent in the forest had stopped.

Sakura pushed herself up, glaring at the cat. "I'm sure you would have tasted just fine." She muttered, causing the cat to press itself deeper into Sasuke's chest.

Well, it had a pink ribbon, so they had what they came for.

"Ok, let's go back and deliver the target. No need to risk Sakura getting her hands on it." Kakashi said.

Sakura switched her glare from the cat to him and pulled out a bottle.

"I'll have you know, now that I'm not in hunting mode I'm perfectly capable of not eating the cat. Though the big breakfast I had helps."

So, a well fed Sakura is a Sakura that's not going to eat puppies. Good to know.

-o-

Sasuke grinned as Tora practically flew into the arms of a surprised fire Lady.

After his experience with Sakura, the cat had apparently developed a new appreciation for his position.

He glanced at Naruto, who grinned excitedly, though for an entirely different reason. One of his clones had spotted Tazuna, the bridge builder entering the village today. And nobody had yet accepted the C-Rank mission he had paid for.

"Ah, good work you guys." Iruka smiled at them. "And so fast. Every other team had to take twice as long to catch Tora."

Naruto grinned widely at the man. "That's because we are awesome Iruka!" He shouted.

Both Iruka and the Hokage chuckled indulgently.

"Well, I suppose you want a new mission then." The Hokage muttered. He glanced at Sakura, who had a bottle in her hand and nipped at it every now and again.

"Though I'm not sure we have another D-Rank mission suited to your talents." He rubbed his chin in thought.

Sasuke sighed. Allowing Sakura to work with small children had turned out to be a very, very bad idea. Not that the children were in any danger. And they all had thanked the gods that Sakura hadn't made any allusions to eating children. Sasuke knew they had all been worried about it.

But... well, Sakura had her own ideas on what constituted a good learning environment.

Fear and pain featured prominently in them.

"Old man, we are ready for something harder." Naruto said, his grin gone, in favor of a more solemn and serious expression.

Sakura snorted in the background.

"Give us a C-Ranked mission, you have to have one."

The Hokage looked considering at the three of them. "Are you sure you are ready for this responsibility?" He asked Naruto, but he looked at Sakura. Who returned the doubtful look with a glare of her own.

Naruto chuckled nervously. "We can keep her under control." He said, which obviously earned him a growl from Sakura.

He glanced at her and returned his gaze to the Hokage. "If we don't provoke her of course."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure as long as we have an enemy to point her at, there won't be any problems. And if there is nothing to set her off we are fine as well." Naruto explained.

Sakura apparently agreed, as she didn't growl this time.

"I see... hmm well I have a mission... but the client is somewhat... difficult. He might set Sakura off." He looked Naruto in the eyes, as he said it. Kakashi hung back. But judging by the way he had his eye closed and muttered under his breath he seemed to pray for this mission.

Sasuke snuck closer. "Please let us get a mission outside of Konoha, please let us..."

Sasuke snickered. Kakashi wanted to get Sakura out of the village. Wonder why? She had such a shining personality.

He sighed and glared at her.

She grated on them all. Her constant abuse hadn't been easy to take. And if they had to deal with the villagers, their distaste for her had an adverse effect on their distaste for Naruto.

But, she got better. Slowly but surely she got better. Her growls were almost playful now. And she didn't threaten to castrate him anymore if he came close to Ino.

And, on the rare occasions that she let her guard down... he could see his Sakura there, the happy girl, willing to do everything in her power, to make her friends happy.

And for that it was worth fighting. To take the abuse, verbal or otherwise and drag her out of her shell, however painful the process turned out to be.

"We. Can. Keep. Her. Under. Control." Naruto glared at her with every word.

Sakura glared back.

"And. She. Will. Control. Herself. As well. Won't she?"

The glaring match continued for a while, before Sakura gave in and looked away.

"She will." She ground out.

The Hokage and Iruka had watched the exchange with mixed expressions. Iruka with a smile that seemed plastered on. Still in denial probably. Sasuke could understand that.

The Hokage however seemed... impressed by Naruto. And approved of the exchange.

"Very well. Your mission is to protect a bridge builder. He's on his way back to wave and wave currently has a problem with bandits."

And more, going by Naruto's description of the country.

But hey, now that they were on the way...

"Damn, I hoped you would send some real ninja..."

Tazuna stared, as Team seven dog-piled Sakura.

"He's a civilian, he has absolutely no idea what the fucking hell he's talking about. I see absolutely no reason to kill him for that ignorance."

Sakura muttered at the bottom of the pile.

"Just making sure." Kakashi muttered.

"Besides, it would have been useless anyway. I could have killed him from over here without lifting a finger." She chuckled darkly.

"Err..." Tazuna coughed. Apparently the man had realized that this team had some problems.

"Well, we'll protect you Tazuna-san." Naruto brushed himself off. "But please, please refrain from pissing of Sakura. The last one who did it... well, we managed to stop her before she killed the poor girl. Barely."

Naruto cocked his head. "And the other girl was a ninja. You don't have that benefit, so please watch your words."

Tazuna opened his mouth, a derisive sneer on his face. But a look at Naruto made him shut his mouth again. He looked at Sakura, who grinned back toothily.

"I... I see, I'll try to watch my mouth." Tazuna nodded at the blond.

"Thank you. We will do our best to protect you. But if you cooperate it will be so much easier for us."

Tazuna looked at the blond. "You know? When I just entered the room, I thought you guys were... well..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Err..."

"Green, absolutely untested genin, who will fail the second danger rears its head?" Sasuke piped up.

Tazuna chuckled weakly. "Yes." He scratched his head. "But, seeing how serious the boy here is... well, you are trained right?"

All three of them chuckled, Sakura rather darkly. But Sasuke had gotten kinda used to that.

Sad really.

Kakashi muttered something about them not needing training, scary geniuses that they were.

"Thank you Tazuna-san." Naruto said after he regained his composure. "But really, I'm doing my damnest not to show my excitement to go out on a real mission. No matter how well trained you are... the first mission is something special isn't it?"

This time Tazuna chuckled. "Yes, the first time you do something is always special. Be it a bridge or a mission."

"Well, now that that's settled. We will meet tomorrow at the village gate. Get ready, pack for the trip to wave and get some decent sleep." Kakashi said to them, before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"See you guys." Sakura said, before she copied Kakashi perfectly.

"Uhh, I'll be going too then." Tazuna murmured.

Leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone with the Hokage and Iruka.

"Uhh, so... how are things going for you guys?" Iruka asked.

Naruto grinned weakly at him. "Honestly? Better than expected. Sakura is slowly warming up to us. Teamwork is improving..."

Sasuke snorted, for a given value of improving anyway. By now they could trust Sakura to not "accidentally" hit them with a kunai.

Which truth be told was a major improvement.

"And Kakashi is hardly ever late." Naruto scratched his chin. "Actually that's kinda scary..."

Sasuke held his face impassive, as he saw the Hokage keep very firm control over his face. So... Kakashi hadn't bought their story. But at least they hadn't thrown them to Ibiki. Probably keeping them under observation.

They would have to come clean... probably after Wave. After the chunin exams at the latest.

Hopefully they would have coaxed Sakura out of her distrust far enough, to prevent her from running by then.

"I must say Naruto... you have matured considerably." The Hokage said.

Naruto looked at the old man, his expression rather somber, a sad smile on his face.

"If I ever want your position I'll have to mature don't I?" His hands clenched into fists. "And I'll have to make some hard decisions too." He stared the old man in the eyes. "Decisions I'd rather not make, but have to, for the good of the village..."

The Hokage nodded sadly, lost in whatever bad memories Naruto had dragged up.

Naruto on the other hand smiled again. "But I'll do my best anyway. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to be a Hokage and protect everybody I care about." He turned around quickly after that. "Well, I gotta go old man. The bag's not gonna pack itself."

Sasuke could see the faces of both, the Hokage and Naruto.

And neither looked as if they actually believed Naruto could succeed. Both had tears in their eyes.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Well, with that attitude they would of course succeed, no doubt about it at all.

"Hey Naruto?" He said, stopping Naruto. "Personally? I think you can do it." His father pulled it off after all. Why shouldn't Naruto? Last time it had been a fluke, they had thought Madara defeated. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Never doubt that Naruto." He smiled at the blond, who nodded, running a hand over his eyes to wipe away the tears running down his face.

"Thanks Sasuke... I... really thanks." And the fake smile he had worn before, had turned into a real one. "If you help me... I think, I think yeah maybe I'll do at that." He laughed, shaking his head. "Damn, to be cheered up by you of all people..."

He waved as he walked out, still chuckling quietly to himself.

Sasuke sighed. Man, being the optimist of this team turned out to be hard work...

"You have changed since Sakura used that jutsu on you Sasuke..." The Hokage said.

"For the better I hope." Sasuke answered carefully. He would have preferred to have backup here. Being alone...

"Oh, I don't know, Iruka said that you actually skipped your punishment on the last day... would you consider that an improvement?" The Old man looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

So he wanted to play that game. Sasuke couldn't help himself, he sniggered.

Iruka almost choked. And even the Hokage looked more than a little surprised.

"Actually yeah I would. It means I'm more like Naruto, which can only be for the best can't it?" He winked at the old man.

Iruka did choke now. Maybe Sasuke could drive him into a breakdown?

"I mean, obviously I would have to make up for lost time. So many pranking opportunities lost, while I was in my funk..." He shook his head sadly, before he looked at Iruka cheerfully. "Iruka-sensei? Can you teach me some of your pranks? I heard you were quite the prankster in the past."

He leaned towards the Hokage conspiratorially. "I would ask Naruto, but he would just say I'm copying him and laugh at me."

The Hokage laughed out loud. "I don't know what happened to you Sasuke. I don't believe your story for even one second you see. But... for now I'm allowing Kakashi to find out the truth for himself." His laughter died down and he looked quite serious now.

Iruka stared at the Hokage in utter bewilderment, but the old man ignored him.

"Kakashi thinks that whatever happened, it doesn't change your loyalty to Konoha." The Hokage continued. He leaned his head to the side. "Well, maybe Sakura's..."

Sasuke nodded. "At the moment it seems she's only loyal to her alcohol... me and Naruto are working on changing that sir."

The Hokage considered him for a long time. "Most would have denied that they lied to their teacher, you didn't. Why?"

"Because me and Naruto wanted to tell you the truth... but Sakura..." Sasuke shook his head. "If we did, we don't know what she would do. We want to work on her some more. Make sure she stays her."

He took a deep breath. "She has knowledge... it could be invaluable. We need that knowledge if we want to beat Madara."

The Hokage didn't flinch, he had himself under control far too well. But Sasuke could see the shock on his face.

"Give us till after the chunin exams Hokage-sama. Whether we take part there or not. Whether Sakura wants to or not. Afterward we will tell you the truth. But... please, just give us the time."

The Hokage looked at him, as did Iruka, who stared in utter shock at Sasuke, soundlessly working his mouth.

Then the Hokage smiled. "Very well Sasuke Uchiha. I trust you and Naruto. I can't say I trust Sakura, not anymore. But if you think you may be able to... help her... " He stopped.

"Be prepared to fail however. I failed once..." He muttered quietly.

Sasuke nodded. "Orochimaru." He said.

A sad smile stole itself onto the Hokage's face. "Yes, Orochimaru. I won't have a repeat Sasuke. And if that means..."

Sasuke nodded, his face grim. "We won't fail Hokage-sama. Sakura, Sakura went through something horrible... far worse than losing your entire clan. I won't allow her to destroy herself because she can't recover from it."

Slowly the smile on the Hokage's face changed and he nodded. "I believe you Sasuke. And I wish you the best of luck."

Sasuke nodded. And leaned forward. "Besides, I won't lose her to Lee. You know what they say about the quiet girls don't you?" He winked at the old man.

His eyes widened in embarrassed surprise. "I.. uh.. she isn't..."

"Not anymore, just means I have to calm her down again." Sasuke laughed. And Naruto thought the sexy no jutsu was a great pranking tool. Mind-fucking people was so much more entertaining.

"Well, see you after this mission Hokage-sama, Iruka." He waved his goodbye to the two utterly shocked adults and made his way out.

-o-

Iruka looked towards the Hokage. "Err... sir? Do I... need to understand all this? Should I... umm... forget it?"

The Hokage didn't react. He simply stared at the spot Sasuke had occupied a minute ago.

"Hokage-sama? Are you there?" Iruka asked again.

He poked the man slightly.

"Huh? Wha?" The old man finally said, shaking himself slightly.

He looked at Iruka. "Did Sasuke Uchiha... the Sasuke Uchiha really just talk about Sakura as... well..."

Iruka nodded, hesitantly. "I... uh think he did..."

The Hokage stared some more. "Iruka." He said finally. "Iruka I'm afraid..."

Iruka could only nod. "Me too Hokage-sama, me too."

Sasuke had a sex drive... could there be something scarier?

-o-

Sakura grinned as she sat outside the village the next morning.

The trees... so green. The booze so tasty. The birds so cheerful... damn. She hung around Sasuke too much the brat would have loved this as well.

But so what? She hadn't seen healthy nature like this in quite some time. Sure the training grounds were kinda the same. But she hadn't had time to appreciate them properly.

And even when she did have the time, she had other things on her mind.

Well, now she could and would appreciate Mother Nature.

She had bragged to Ino yesterday, who still jumped whenever she spotted Sakura. Might have something to do with Sakura's rather crude and black humor. Sakura could understand it. The girl hadn't known anything but peace after all.

And the sort of humor Sakura employed came from long years of seeing your friends die.

Bah, she shook her head and watched the birds flit through the trees. Why think depressing thoughts?

Ten minutes later she felt very, very bored. Where were the others? She had come only half an hour early. They were supposed to arrive soon...

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted as he ran towards her, a large bento in hand.

She forced her smile down, hard.

But it had become harder and harder to do it. The damn bastard just didn't stop worming his way back into her good graces.

"Gah, fine!" She shouted back and smiled at him. "There you happy now?" She asked, trying to sound angry. Which was easier said than done, with a huge smile on your face, as you eagerly held out a hand for some food.

Sasuke returned her smile with a radiant one of himself. "Perfectly happy actually." He said and handed her the bento.

"Making you happy makes me happy after all." He grinned that stupid grin again.

Gah, how goddamn mushy could you get?

She snagged the box and turned away, gagging. "Stop that, it's disgusting." She muttered.

He just laughed. "Never, it's too amusing, seeing you gag."

Ohh, the bastard! She stuffed some fried rice into her mouth. Ohh so much better than her own cooking. She washed it down with some sake. Her supply had grown a good bit, since she had started working, so she could buy some of the better stuff.

She sighed contently. This, this must be what heaven felt like.

"Hey, Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto greeted them, a grin on his face as well.

Sakura felt a twitch coming. Too much smiling going on. They must look so stupid to any onlookers.

Sasuke handed Naruto a bento as well.

"Ohh, you have to thank that lady for me, she makes the best bentos ever!" Naruto said between bites, devouring the food.

Sakura sighed. Hopefully Kakashi would arrive soon and get this show on the road. She needed to move. Back home, she had always been on the move, never staying longer than a week at any one place.

Sure, she had paused in the ruins of Konoha quite often, but even then only for a day or two.

Now she had stayed in one place for so long... paranoia started to get its claws into her well and good.

"Hello my cute little students." Kakashi greeted them.

And he could even keep the irony out of his voice. Impressive.

Tazuna followed him, gazing at them doubtfully.

"Are you sure you guys are up for this? I mean having a picnic here?" He pointed at the bentos.

Sakura shrugged. "It's called breakfast. Sasuke knows a lady who can cook pretty damn well." She grinned at him and raised her bottle. "Not that I don't supplement it with something else as well."

Tazuna stared at the bottle in shock and turned to Kakashi. "Is that..."

Kakashi shrugged. "Yes. She can deal with it though."

"But... she's way too young for alco..." He stared in horror as Sakura downed the bottle and pulled another one out.

"Ahhh that hit the spot. Don't worry Tazuna, I could drink you under the table if I wanted to." Teach him to doubt her.

Tazuna gibbered a bit, until Sasuke pulled at his arm and they started their walk to wave.

-o-

Naruto shivered slightly, as he walked ahead of Sakura. They would arrive in wave in another two days. But... if he and Sasuke would arrive in wave... well, he had his doubts.

Sakura growled and snapped at anything and anybody.

Taking away her alcohol had been a stupid idea. Throwing it away had been even worse.

The only thing saving them from her wrath was the fact that she couldn't prove anything. They had been very careful not to leave any hints of their involvement.

Tazuna had joined her, snapping angrily at everybody but Sakura. And the both of them complained loudly about the bastards who took away their stashes, commiserating the evils of sobriety and the even greater evils of people who stole booze.

Kakashi kept as far back as he possibly could and still guard Tazuna. The coward.

"Well..." Sasuke whispered. They only communicated whispering, since loud noises led to drawing attention.

"Well... that wasn't one of our better ideas."

Naruto nodded glumly. Sakura apparently needed the alcohol to function.

While she had some semblance of sanity drunk... she twitched at every sound while sober. Not to mention the constant tremble he could see as far back as he walked.

And he could hear her sob in the night. Damn. Now he felt absolutely horrible about taking her booze away.

"Yeah, we might need to wean her off the stuff." He glanced at her uncomfortably. "Slowly."

"How dare these thieves? How dare they... do they have any idea just how expensive good booze is?" Sakura complained, loudly, to Tazuna.

"Hear, hear. And I had to bring mine from Wave. I could never afford the stuff in Konoha. Hellishly expensive that stuff." He answered.

"Tell me about it! I had to sink most of my mission pay into that booze... you say there is good stuff in Wave?" She looked at him, eyes shining hopefully.

"Well... not good stuff, but cheap stuff." Tazuna shrugged.

"Oh yeah. You guys have that problem with Gato... you realize he's most likely getting the stuff to you to keep you drunk and weak, right?"

Tazuna stared at her startled. "Wha?"

Naruto glanced down at the puddle in the way.

Sasuke had noticed as well.

And while he couldn't be sure Sakura hadn't seen the puddle... he doubted in her current state of heightened paranoia, she could have missed it.

He watched her closely for a second. Her left hand held a kunai and twitched occasionally.

Ooooh shit, if they didn't do something those poor bastards about to reveal themselves were about to be relegated to kunai receptacle.

"Sasuke. We have to stop Sakura... and protect Tazuna." Not that he cared all that much about those guys. But life shouldn't be ended so easily.

Sasuke nodded, tensing up.

The two chunin rose up behind Kakashi and Naruto could feel the man disappear. They couldn't, after all Naruto had reached jonin level skills already. And those two guys were low chunin at best.

They slaughtered the defenseless log... poor log, but its sacrifice would not be in vain. And in charged Naruto and Sasuke.

"One down!" the one on the right shouted.

"Time to kill the others." The left one said.

Sasuke and Naruto reacted lightning fast, far faster than the chunin attacking them, and tackled Sakura to the ground. Tazuna went down as well, avoiding the chain the two guys had hanging between them by a hairs breath.

"Goddamnit! You bastards! Let me kill them! I need to kill something! I haven't killed you yet and you bastards deserve it so much!" Sakura raged and struggled as Sasuke pinned her to the ground.

"Hurry!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto. "I can't keep her down for long." And it showed. Sakura rocked back and forth, positioning her leg for a rather painful kick.

Naruto nodded, he would rather Sasuke didn't have to suffer for the sake of those two fools.

The fools in question stared at them in disbelief.

"What the hell is wrong with you kids?" One of them asked.

"We just saved your..."

"Lemme at em you goddamn pussies!" Sakura interrupted Naruto's answer.

"As I just said." He glared at Sakura. "We just saved your miserable lives. So a bit more gratitude would be nice."

The chunin looked at each other and laughed. " Gratitude? You saving us? Don't make us laugh kid we..."

He trailed of in shock, staring at the army of Narutos surrounding them suddenly.

"They are shadow clones by the way." Naruto shrugged at them. "I wouldn't want to fight them. Really I wouldn't."

"Fight them! Give me a reason to kill you! I need to kill something. If I can't get drunk I want to kill something at least!" Sakura shouted from her position beneath Sasuke, who had somehow managed to deflect her kick.

"Well..." Kakashi appeared beside them. "Looks as if you guys have things well in hand... and good job you two. We need to interrogate them after all."  
-o-

The chunin sat in the middle of the group, glaring defiantly at everybody surrounding them.

Sasuke fingered a few cuts Sakura had given him. He had no idea how, she had managed it. But somehow she had, frightening.

Now she glowered just as much as their captives.

"I hate you all, just wanted to let you know." She muttered. Her shakes, which had stopped during the fight, started again.

Sasuke sighed, but maybe they could use her desires for something useful, intimidating their captives into talking for example.

Not that they needed to. After all both Sakura and Naruto knew what they were after and why. But appearances had to be kept. For now at least.

"Now, why don't you tell us what you are after?" Kakashi smiled at the two unfortunate fools.

"We won't talk." One of them muttered.

"Well... if you don't talk you leave me no choice..." Kakashi looked down at them sadly.

"What are you going to do, Leaf? We know Konoha is full of weaklings. As if you would do anything in front of your students." The other snorted.

Kakashi looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Sakura?" He turned to the glowering girl.

She perked up, a slow smile creeping over her face.

"Why don't you demonstrated why the boys stopped you from attacking them... but make sure they survive will you?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Naruto... why don't you go somewhere else with Tazuna." Kakashi said. Wisely.

"Uhh... can I go with him?" Sasuke asked, he really didn't want to see what Sakura would do.

Kakashi looked at him. Sasuke noticed he also glanced at the two nin, who looked decidedly uncomfortable as they watched Sakura close in on them.

"No. You'll have to learn the truth of the world at some point." He sighed.

Ah, so he wanted to play that game.

"Sensei... I watched my brother slaughter our entire clan... do you really think I have to learn 'Truth of the world' anymore?"

He suppressed his snicker as the captives began to sweat. Sakura had pulled out several knifes and started to sort them.

"Well... I suppose. But this is something different. He didn't target you specifically and he didn't torture you." Kakashi shook his head.

Sasuke bristled. Well he faked himself bristling. After all he hadn't actually been tortured. He only knew about it from Sakura and Naruto, who had gone into details on what had happened to him.

"You call being forced to relive the same scene of having your family slaughtered again and again for two days not torture?" He glared at Kakashi.

Kakashi looked over at Sakura. "Compared to this?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura as well.

"Blood, blood, beautiful blood. Red and sweet, and flowing so free." She sang, running a wet stone over one of her blades.

"Ok, you have a point." Ohh see them shake. Well, he hoped they would break before Sakura started. Or that Kakashi would allow him to leave. "But... I don't want to enter torture and interrogation. So why would I want to watch this?"

Kakashi smiled at him and Sasuke suddenly had the distinct feeling that he this had stopped to be about the guys Sakura was preparing herself to dissect. And more about him.

"Because I want you to know what happens to people you send to Ibiki."

Ohh veiled threat. Scary. Or it would be if Sasuke hadn't already talked to the Hokage.

"Oh, I see." He looked at them. "Well... could you please hurry up and either talk fast or die? I would really, really prefer not to watch too much of this. She's..."

"Rip apart the flesh that hides, reveal the bones for all to see."

"Scary." Sasuke shuddered. He hoped fervently she actually sang it to scare them and not because she actually meant it.

The nin stared at her as well, then at him. "You'll stop her. You wouldn't... you..." They glanced at her again. She had finished her preparations and advanced on them. Several knives held in one hand.

"Alright! Alright! We'll talk! Just don't let her near us!" He shouted.

Sasuke sighed in relief and held Sakura back.

"What do you think you are doing?" She asked. Her voice sending shivers down his back. She spoke in a low hiss.

"They are willing to talk. No need to hurt them anymore." He explained.

Sakura shook her head. "I disagree. I want to hurt them. I need to work off some aggression... some aggression I've developed because somebody destroyed all my booze. Now you can either let me have my fun with them... or you can take their place."

"Gato! Gato hired us. We work with Zabuza! He's probably waiting somewhere on the way to wave. Making sure we succeed." The first shouted out, a desperate note to his voice.

"Yeah... Zabuza also has this little guy with him. Things he's better than us just because he has this bloodline limit." The other said, looking pleadingly at Kakashi. "He controls water or something. And he fakes being a hunter nin. Please don't let her get close to us."

"Yeah... I've never felt such killing instinct..."

Huh? Killing instinct, what killing instinct?

Sasuke and Kakashi looked at each other. Then at the men. "What killing instinct? Kakashi asked them.

Sakura glared at him. "Are you telling me you can't feel it?"

Sasuke concentrated and could feel it...

"Oh, so that's the constant pressure. I had kinda wondered." He muttered.

A whimper escaped from the men.

Kakashi chuckled. "You see my cute little genin are kinda scary... scratch that two of them are kinda scary, and the girl is downright terrifying. Did you know she tried to kill one of her comrades for a stupid comment? If we hadn't stopped her..."

"Look, we told you everything we know! Well everything we know about the situation at hand. We have no idea what Gato has planned beyond us. We have no idea what Zabuza's gonna do. Just please, please don't let her get to us."

One of them pleaded. The other nodded along quite emphatically.

"Kakashi... we have what we need don't we?" Sasuke asked, holding Sakura back with a hand on her shoulder. Always ready to remove the hand, if she decided to snap at it.

Sighing Kakashi nodded. "I suppose... and here I hoped to get Sakura some stress relief... now she might have to make do with us."

Sasuke shuddered and looked at the ninja staring at them in horror.

On the one hand, they had tried to kill them. On the other Sakura would do much worse to them.

Then again... if she didn't do it to them, she would do it to her teammates... who admittedly irritated her to the point of breaking by getting rid of her sake...

"By the way, you won't be sharing my tent anymore if you decide to deny her." Kakashi said.

Oh god... oh god... a pissed Sakura, in the same tent... while they were sleeping...

"That's all right Kakashi." Naruto said. A serene smile on his face. He walked over to the unfortunate suckers.

"You guys have alcohol don't you? I'm sure you have some somewhere, right?" He smiled at them, in his most winning manner.

"Yes, in my left pocket. It's not much..." Naruto nodded and pulled out a little flask.

"Here, now leave 'em be." He handed the flask to Sakura, who emptied it almost immediately.

"You bought yourself a night Uzumaki." Sakura stated flatly. "One night, unless you get me some more. This won't last nearly long enough. I can already remem..." She spat out and walked back to her knifes. "Let's go. The faster we arrive in Wave, the faster I'll be drunk again."

Tazuna stared after her. "What's... what's wrong with her?" He asked them.

Kakashi followed her with his eyes as well. "Bad memories. Most ninja have them... though most not that young."

-o-

Sakura watched the bridge standing above her. Soon they would meet Zabuza, and Naruto would try to save the psycho... just like he and Sasuke were trying to save her.

And it looked like they were succeeding. Slowly, true, but surely. After all, even when they stole her sake... all her sake. She still had no idea how they managed that feat. She hadn't killed them on the spot.

Bastards with their plausible deniability. And stupid Kakashi, did he have to point out the consequences for killing her teammates? They clearly deserved it!

Bah, those stupid demon brothers were just lucky Naruto had found some alcohol on them. If he hadn't, well she might not really enjoy torturing people. But she did enjoy working out her frustration on people deserving it.

And guess what? People trying to kill her counted as deserving.

She forced herself to calm down. But the voices of her comrades had come back. Louder again, screaming for revenge, telling her she should have died.

But she wouldn't listen. She could tune them out, even without alcohol. It was just so much more difficult...

Well, the coming fight with Zabuza would at least provide some distraction. And then, they would be in wave and near some sake. Bliss. She had gone for nearly a week without.

She just wished she could use the alcohol stored in her body. But that had been contaminated by her chakra and she could only breath it out now, or let all of it into her bloodstream at once, killing her.

Which obviously wouldn't happen. She had just escaped hell and reached heaven. She wouldn't give it up for a very minor reprieve to a temporary sickness.

They got off the boat, carrying them over the river. Sasuke thanked the guide and Naruto looked around. Tazuna stayed quiet, though his relief could be seen by a socially inept bat.

Kakashi glanced around suspicious. "If anything happens, it will happen here." He said easily, hiding his worry quite well. "Don't worry guys, I'll protect you against Zabuza."

Blank stares for all. "Protect us against Zabuza?" Naruto asked. "Don't you mean protect Zabuza from us?"

Kakashi glared at him. "This isn't a joking matter Naruto. Zabuza is different than those guys. And even with all the training we did, you aren't a match against him."

Sakura tended to disagree. She hadn't ever used one of her more powerful genjutsu. Only one and that at barely any power. She giggled as she imagined Kakashi's reaction to the full demon's howl technique.

Hmm would have to make sure there were no civilians around when she used it. They would either kill themselves, die of heart failure... and she risked that with only the version she showed Kakashi, or fly into a howling rage and attack anything in sight, especially each other.

Ahh, causing utter terror and confusion in one go with such a basic technique. How she loved the basics.

Naruto glanced at a moving bush, but didn't do anything. No real point after all. They both knew what moved there, or at least had a very good guess. And Zabuza couldn't actually touch them if they were prepared.

Naruto gave Sasuke a small sign.

Kakashi nodded approvingly, just before Zabuza's gigantic sword came flying for them.

Sakura grinned, such a nice trophy. She narrowed her eyes and moved slightly to the side and focused chakra in her feet, hands and the rest of her body. She needed to reinforce her entire body for this.

She ducked slightly and leaned back, she stood first in line and so could attempt this first.

She could feel Naruto and Sasuke prepare the same stunt. But, her hand shot out, just as the gigantic blade passed over her and her fingers closed around the handle.

The bulk and the momentum of the sword ripped her around, even as her interference ripped the blade from its own path.

Naruto screamed girlishly as it slammed into the ground right between his legs. Pity it hadn't hit anything interesting.

"Bah, it missed by over..." She glanced quickly and estimated the distance. "One centimeter. What are you screaming about Uzumaki?"

Only a whimper could be heard from the boy.

"Quit your whining. I'm sure you would have recovered." Sakura rolled her eyes. Some people would complain about every little thing.

"Sakura? What did I tell you about killing your teammates?" Kakashi asked.

"Don't?" Sakura returned the question.

"Yes!" Came the reply from three mouths.

"Boring."

"Hehe. Not bad little girl, not bad at all. But how do you want to use that sword?" Zabuza stood in front of them, chuckling.

Sakura glared back at him and pulled on the sword. It came loose easily.

And she flung it on her shoulder. "Like this?" She asked.

Zabuza stared at her in astonishment. As well he should. The control needed to reinforce her muscles, to use this sword could only be described as insane.

She heard Tsunade had this kind of control. But she rather doubted the old woman could do the shit Sakura could. After all Sakura had develop this technique as a means to accelerate her speed beyond anything even the sharingan would be able to follow. At least for a few seconds.

An upside to that turned out to be a general increase in body strength, if she needed it.

"What the hell?" Zabuza asked, as she grabbed his sword with both hands and charged him.

"Come on looser! Show me what you've got!" She shouted, making a beeline directly for Zabuza.

She could feel Naruto create a few clones behind her. She had become used to them again after only a week of training and D-Rank missions.

She could also hear them carry Tazuna away. Good, free reign then.

Zabuza grinned at her and as she actually came at him very, very slowly. Thanks to the heavy sword she could perfectly understand him. But then, she actually didn't want to attack him with the sword.

What she wanted to use that for he already did. He stood still, waiting for her easily countered swing.

"Yaaaaaaahhh" She screamed, letting the blade touch the ground behind her. Zabuza's grin grew even wider, until it almost threatened to split his face.

"Yes, little girl come on!" He shouted at her.

And Sakura let go of the sword, her hands flew into a handseal and she howled.

Her killing intent, increased with chakra traveled on the sound waves, almost effortlessly, slamming into Zabuza, shaking him to the core. He recoiled, panic appearing on his face for a split second.

And without the sword on her back, Sakura's speed increased into the ludicrous. One second she ran towards Zabuza, still over 5 meters away. The next her fist slammed into his face, followed by a knee into his stomach. She pulled out a kunai and rammed it into his head.

And watched in satisfaction as the body dropped into a puddle of water.

"Boooring asshole!" She shouted at the forest.

Zabuza walked into the clearing, clearly shocked at the quick work she made of his clone.

"I... must say I'm impressed. You destroyed that clone... with no effort at all." He chuckled. "Maybe I underestimated you brats?"

Sakura grinned back. "And you know what? I'm the weakest member of this little group."

Zabuza shook with laughter. "You, the weakest? They look a bit shaken for somebody supposedly strong."

-o-

Kakashi stared at Sakura. He hadn't even moved yet. "Sakura come back here!" He shouted.

And how had she done that? Even if he had the sharingan uncovered, he wouldn't have been able to follow her movement.

Ok, this scared him. If she wanted to, she could have killed them all.

Naruto gaped at her as well as Sasuke.

"Fast." He muttered.

"Yes, fast. But alone she won't be able to beat him." Kakashi reminded him. "You guys stand back. That was just a water clone. I'll deal with the real..."

But Naruto and Sasuke didn't listen. Instead they charged as well.

"Damn it! That's too dangerous!" Kakashi shouted after them. At least Naruto had evacuated Tazuna and replaced him with a clone. If he hadn't done that, Kakashi would have been a lot more pissed.

Zabuza stared at the children attack him and laughed. Which was good. If he laughed, then maybe, just maybe Kakashi could reach him...

Sakura attacked again and this time Zabuza reacted faster. Fast enough to actually hit her. He could predict where she would strike. She just didn't have the experience to use whatever technique she used to move... away from the counter-strike, like she did just now... and slam her fist into Zabuza's stomach.

Holy shit. Zabuza curled up around her fist, the breath pushed from his lungs. Sakura didn't stop however. Instead she jumped into a back-flip, delivering a brutal kick into his face, which sent Zabuza flying out onto the water of a nearby lake.

Kakashi had stopped halfway to Sakura. How? How could she move like that? He had activated his sharingan for the exchange and Sakura had managed to move faster than he could follow.

How could she do that? When she shouldn't even be able to see what she was doing.

"Damn, this is disappointing, I hoped the guy would be a challenge, not a pathetic looser like that. You guys can have him." Sakura glared at Zabuza, who just now picked himself up from the water, face bleeding freely.

He glared at her. Every pretense of humor was gone. "You'll pay for that brat!" He growled.

"No she won't." Naruto sighed. "Sadly." He glared at Sakura himself. "But, you'll have to deal with us first."

Sasuke smirked at the man. "And we aren't any easier to deal with than Sakura."

Damn those fools. And damn himself, he should have moved, instead of staring at them slack jawed.

Well, at least they couldn't reach Zabuza on the lake...

They knew waterwalking... of course. Why wouldn't they? Sakura apparently could use high speed combat putting even his chidori to shame.

Even Gai at his fastest couldn't compare... well ok he could. He was probably the only one who actually could defend against her, if she used it against him.

He glanced at Sakura. But it looked as if it took a lot out of her. She panted heavily.

Then again, she used it twice and that spike of horrifying killing intent she used. It had actually scarred Kakashi for a second.

Maybe he should look into learning that technique. Having that second of panic just before he hit them with a chidori... useful. And if he used the technique it would be even more effective, since he had a lot more chakra to use on the technique.

"Shouldn't you run out there and help the boys 'Sensei' "? Sakura asked him grinning wickedly.

He glared at her, before he shook his head. No, this would be an excellent opportunity to observe them. And if the others were just half as good as Sakura, which he didn't doubt for a second, they would at least be able to keep Zabuza from killing them until Kakashi pulled their asses out of the fire.

"I think I'll just watch for now." He said.

Sakura looked at him strangely, before she nodded. "If you think that's for the best."

The boys and Zabuza hadn't actually done anything but stare at each other yet.

"Oh, I think they can take care of themselves. I mean you could easily, why couldn't they." He pretended not to watch her face. Easier said than done of course. But he would like to think he succeeded well enough.

She smiled a little bit, apparently happy with the answer.

He looked at the boys; hopefully they would finally show him what they were capable of. He hadn't managed to coax a show of their talent out of them yet.

-o-

Naruto looked at Zabuza. Well, there went the plan. He should have guessed Sakura wouldn't actually follow it. She had vetoed it right from the start. And if he was honest with himself, he hadn't actually had high hopes for success.

Zabuza just had too much pride. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man glaring angrily at them. Pride that would have to be broken, before they could talk some sense into him.

"Sasuke, show him just what the sharingan can do will you?" He told the other boy.

Who nodded eagerly, an exited grin on his face. "Sure thing Naruto."

He strolled towards Zabuza eyes spinning red.

Honestly, Naruto had no idea what Sasuke could actually do with those eyes. After all, while they did talk a lot. They never actually talked about their respective skill levels.

It just seemed unnecessary.

Zabuza's head rocked back, even though Sasuke still had about half the ground to cover. In fact, Sasuke hadn't moved at all, he simply stood there, looking at Zabuza.

Zabuza laughed. "Brat! I barely even felt that punch!" He grinned. "I'll give you another free shot. This time try to prove the girl right eh?"

Wow, Sasuke had Zabuza believe they were fighting already.

Zabuza doubled over, grunting slightly.

"Better brat." His smile returned full force. "But not nearly enough to beat me."

He punched the air in front of him, again and again. Slowly a frustrated growl could be heard from him.

"Gotta admit though, you are a nimble bastard!" He spat out.

He didn't even notice walking closer and closer to Sasuke, who still hadn't moved from his spot.

Naruto frowned at the fight. Kakashi hadn't been able to pull stuff like this... had the Sasuke back home been able to do it?

If so, why hadn't he used it against Naruto? Naruto was honest enough to admit he would never have figured it out, ever.

Zabuza had finally reached Sasuke, who calmly pulled out a kunai and reared his hand back.

Naruto almost shouted for him to stop. But he trusted the boy and he wouldn't just kill Zabuza. Or at least Naruto hoped he wouldn't.

Zabuza stopped punching the air as suddenly as he had started. Seeing only one part of that fight made predicting the moves an enemy would pull difficult.

Sasuke didn't have that problem of course.

Zabuza turned around, growling something about monkeys and staying still.

The second he broke eye contact, he stiffened and Sasuke moved, nowhere near as fast as Sakura, but Naruto doubted anybody could do that.

"Well, Sakura was right. This is utterly boring." Sasuke said, holding a kunai to Zabuza's throat.

"Hey Naruto, you deal with him. I don't feel like it anymore." He dropped the kunai and shunshined back to Kakashi.

"Really sensei. You should check that bingo book of yours. If that's the quality of the ninja in it... well it might need to be reprinted." He shook his head in disappointment.

Zabuza stood there a hand on his throat, staring at Sasuke wide eyed. "How... you..."

Naruto grinned at the man. He had just been beaten by two genin. Two genin who declared him beneath them.

Sasuke and Sakura had assassinated his ego more effectively than anything Naruto could have done.

He looked at the wreck of a man. His turn now. Time to pick up the pieces their assault left behind.

"Ok, Zabuza. Let's finish this. Just because they lost interest before they finished it doesn't mean I will as well." He grinned at the man.

Zabuza looked back warily. Wiping the blood on his hand away. He looked a right mess.

Naruto wondered where Haku hid himself. He should have done something the second Sasuke had his kunai at Zabuza's throat.

On the other hand, attacking them then would have been extremely suspicious. He got away with it last time because they were all exhausted after a prolonged battle. This time? This time they had walked all over Zabuza, showing no apparent effort.

Kakashi hadn't even entered the fight yet. How could you justify killing Zabuza? You couldn't. So Haku had to wait, and hope.

"Brat, I don't know who you are..." Zabuza growled, but he couldn't hide the fear, oh no he couldn't hide it at all. "But I will kill you!"

And he charged. Naruto yawned. Every little bit would help. His hands came together almost lazily, to form the seals for his favorite jutsu.

And a second before Zabuza slammed into Naruto he found himself surrounded. Surrounded by over 500 shadow clones.

If he had been able to do anything but twitch at this point, he might have been able to actually kill Naruto now. Naruto hadn't bother with moving. He grinned into Zabuza's face.

"Give up now? Or do I have to beat you into submission?" He asked the man.

One of his clones dispelled, in order to send the memory of Kakashi's face to him. The man appeared to be just as flabbergasted as Zabuza.

A small whimper escaped Zabuza. Sure, he could probably kill all these clones. But not without suffering some rather serious damage. And then he would have to deal with Naruto himself. Never mind dealing with the rest of team 7.

"How? How can you?" He stared at Naruto in utter horror, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Well, I am the Jinchuriku of the nine tails. This? This is easy." Naruto grinned at him. Should he go for broke?

Zabuza recoiled into one of the clones behind him. Oh why the hell not? He had never shattered somebody's mind before.

"And well, my father was the fourth Hokage. So yeah, the talent runs in the family." He shrugged modestly at... the man who had just fainted.

"What? That's it? That's all it takes to make him faint?" Naruto asked the air.

Several senbon slammed into Zabuza's body. And Haku finally showed up. Naruto couldn't hide his smirk at the barely suppressed shudder the boy showed.

"Thank you for knocking him out." He said, voice firm despite the fear he must be feeling. "But, well I couldn't allow you to capture him alive. He knows too many of mists secret..." Four clones had grabbed his arms and legs.

"What's the meaning of this?" He asked, his hands flying into hand seals. Until two more clones gently, but firmly took hold of them as well.

Naruto pulled the mask of his face. "You see, I don't believe you. I have this feeling you aren't a mist ninja. And..." He looked at Haku's all too pretty face, while gesturing for a clone to check over Zabuza. "I think you are faking his death."

Haku's eyes widened in the same panic that had gripped Zabuza only moments before, but he managed to fight it down again.

"I have no idea what you mean, this is a direct violation..."

The clone spoke up. "He's still alive. There's a very weak heartbeat here and he's breathing ever so slightly as well."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he looked at Haku. "You were saying?"

Haku slumped in defeat. "Zabuza-sama, I failed." He muttered. With a quick sign Naruto dispelled his clones, opening the view for the rest of his team. Only the clones holding Haku remained, since Naruto had no doubt he would try to escape if given the slightest chance.

"Ohh, he's pretty." Sakura looked at Haku's face. "Can I keep him Kakashi? I have so many ideas on how to use him." She leered at the boy.

Naruto glared at her. "He's not some sort of toy for you Haruno."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? My, my touchy. You want to keep him for yourself then?"

He felt the rage coming and fought it down harshly. He could see Sakura had felt it as well, as she backed down. He glanced at Kakashi and Sasuke, who looked back worriedly.

Sakura glared at him, like the first time in that forest. "Keep him then." She spat and turned around.

"Sakura! Wait!" Before she could disappear, he had jumped and managed to grab her arm. She whirled around, just as he pulled her close. Kakashi didn't need to hear this. Not yet.

"Don't ever do that again. I felt the Kyuubi rise there." He whispered in her ear.

She stopped moving for her kunai. Instead she pulled back and looked into his eyes. "The kyuubi? So you don't have it under control eh?" She whispered back.

"Of course not. I can keep it in check. I can force it to give me it's power. Hell I can even use all of its power. But if I make a mistake, or if something makes me angry... it can slip out." He hissed back. "Don't make me angry, don't make it any easier than it has to be for it."

Sakura glared, but nodded. "I'll do my best asshole."

She ripped lose and walked over to Kakashi and Sasuke, who had pretended not to listen in. Haku still hung between his clones, apparently defeated.

"Still, even if we aren't handing him over to Sakura, what do we do with him? And Zabuza?" Sasuke asked. More for Kakashi's sake than anything else. He knew perfectly well what Naruto wanted to do.

But Kakashi looked at Haku like Naruto looked at a snake dropped into his bed; extremely wary.

"I honestly have no idea." He looked at Naruto, quite obviously wondering why the blond had reacted like he had. "The easiest thing to do would obviously be to kill them both."

Naruto didn't rise to the bait. He simply shook his head. "We won't do that of course."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "We won't?" He asked, deceptively mild.

Naruto smiled. "No we won't. He could be useful for Konoha."

Sasuke piped up. "Yeah, why would Zabuza have him follow him if he didn't have some talent. Maybe he has a bloodline or something?"

Haku didn't seem to hear them, going by the lack of any reaction whatsoever.

Kakashi pointed at the comatose Zabuza. "What about him? He's a ruthless murderer. He killed his entire graduation class at the genin exams in mist."

He watched their reactions, or better non-reactions.

"Well..." Naruto started. Damn, they couldn't just invite him to live in Konoha...

"Would he be useful to Konoha as well?" Kakashi asked, not unkind, but he didn't hide the hard edge in his voice.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, sadly shaking his head.

"Can I keep him? I promise I'll put him to good use." Sakura said. Though Naruto doubted it mattered to her either way.

Kakashi looked at her flatly. "No." He said as flatly.

"Oh well, I tried." She shrugged. "But if we want Haku we need his master alive." She pointed at the boy. "I'm pretty sure he's like a dog. If his owner dies the dog dies as well."

Naruto suppressed the growl. She didn't mean it as an insult and she was also right. If Zabuza died Haku would die. Or at least try to commit suicide.

"Can't we make this decision somewhere else? Somewhere warm preferably?" Sasuke asked.

And man, this version of Sasuke was the best Sasuke Naruto had ever known.

"Yeah, we don't need to decide what to do right now. We have some time right? I mean Zabuza isn't going to be walking around anytime soon. Right Haku?" He turned to the boy.

Kakashi glanced at the boy and at Naruto, then slowly, ever so slowly to Sakura.

"Say, how do you guys know his name?" He asked, all innocently.

Haku had perked up as well.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, then at Haku. "Well, shit." She said.

Sasuke looked only at Sakura. "Let's go somewhere warm and we'll talk ok?" He asked.

Kakashi sighed and nodded. "It's not as if I could actually stop you guys I suppose."

Haku looked at each of them in turn. "You won't kill Zabuza-sama?" He asked, the tiniest shred of hope entering his voice.

Naruto tried to grin at him, but he just didn't have the confidence to pull it off. Not to mention that he had other worries at the moment. Like Sakura's expression. She seemed to fight down her impulse to run away.

"Well try to find a way for him to survive." He said. And he hoped they would find a way too.

"Well, no promises." Kakashi muttered and looked at Naruto. "Where did you put Tazuna by the way?"

Naruto blinked. He just sent his clone away... and he couldn't just dispel him to find out where he sent it...

"Ooops?" He grinned at the assembled people.

-o-

Here's chapter four, thank to Slamu for Betaing^^


	5. Revelations

Fragments

-o-

Revelations

-o-

Naruto sighed as he watched the assembled ninja.

They had found Tazuna relatively easy. Not as if Naruto's clone had wandered far.

From there they continued on, to Tazuna's house. It hadn't been that far.

And now they sat around a bound Zabuza and Haku, with Kakashi keeping careful watch.

Sakura sat in a corner, nursing a new bottle and muttering something about it being still better than the shit back home.

Sasuke fidgeted nervously, alternatively glancing at their captives and Sakura.

"So, we are warm, we are safe and we have some privacy." Kakashi stared the conversation. He looked at them blandly. "Talk."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you already decided to kill them?" She pointed at Haku and Zabuza.

Of course, she didn't seem to care either way. Naruto could just hear idle curiosity out of her voice.

Kakashi grinned at her and looked at their captives again.

Who hadn't moved a muscle.

"They are out like a light, no danger of them overhearing. And if they wake up... well, I'm sure at least one of us would notice." He smiled blandly at them.

"Well, there goes my easy genin lifestyle." Sakura muttered, leaving her head hanging.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked at Sasuke for an explanation.

Sasuke looked at Naruto a pleading look on his face. But Naruto could only shrug. What were they supposed to say?

"Umm..." Sasuke looked at Sakura, who shrugged. No help from that direction.

"Uhh..." Sasuke tried again.

Kakashi sighed. "Well, if you don't want to talk..."

"We do... well me and Naruto want to." Sasuke spoke up finally. "It's just... how to word this without sounding crazy."

Kakashi nodded and leaned back. "Well, just start at the beginning. We'll take it from there. Who are you?"

Sasuke sighed in relieve. "Well, I am Uchiha Sasuke and until a few days ago I also was the carrier of the Kyuubi and tasked with killing Uchiha Madara, who set the Kyuubi against Konoha, in order to either destroy Konoha or cause a rift between it and the Uchiha clan."

Naruto suppressed a snicker as he saw Kakashi's expression. Comedic gold that one.

"My turn I suppose." Naruto piped up.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my father was Namikaze Minato. I was, and still am, the carrier of the Kyuubi. I've learned to control the Kyuubi." Cue a gasp from Kakashi and an awed expression from Sasuke, Sakura merely raised an eyebrow, blasé bitch. "And Tsunade had charged me with stopping Madara as well." He glanced at Sasuke. "Also, Sasuke, since he allied himself with Madara."

Ohh look at Kakashi's face, as he tried to make sense of it all.

"My turn now? I would so love to confuse the captain more, but really. I don't have the patience for these games. I'm Haruno Sakura, only survivor of Konoha. Right hand of Madara in the ruins of a world torn apart by countless wars and bands of ravenous monsters." She shuddered.

"Monsters created by Naruto and Sasuke, after they betrayed Konoha and tried to take over the world. They killed each other in a rather horrible battle." She looked at Kakashi, an evil smirk on her lips.

"Okay, I lied. I did have the patience for this game. As for what we are all doing here…" She looked at them. Naruto shrugged, if she wanted to explain, she could be his guest.

Sasuke nodded encouragingly.

"Well, I suppose if I had to sum it up, time-travel is a pretty accurate description." She took a long drag from her bottle. "Though of course if Madara was here he would go on and on how inaccurate that description actually is."

Sasuke sniggered at Kakashi's expression. Naruto slowly crept forward and waved his hand in front of Kakashi's face.

No reaction.

Naruto looked at his teammates. Sasuke nodded eagerly, while Sakura rolled her eyes.

Slowly Naruto's hand reached for Kakashi's mask, ready to draw back at the slightest movement from their teacher.

But Kakashi didn't even twitch.

Naruto's hand snapped forward and he ripped the mask off.

"Ooooh!" Sakura whistled, a bit of drool ran down her mouth. "Mine!"

Sasuke stared in horror at Kakashi's face. "Put it back! Put it back!" He wailed.

Naruto stared at him in confusion. Ok, so Kakashi turned out to be incredible pretty. Why would that bother Sasuke?

"I can't accept it! Nobody must ever now!" Sasuke continued his wailing. Kakashi still hadn't moved out of his shock. "If this comes out, I'll never be able to compete!"

Ah, he worried that Kakashi was prettier than him...

Naruto put the mask back on.

"Thank you." Sasuke slumped to the ground. "The mask stays on from now on."

"Yes, I agree." Sakura said, wiping some drool from her mouth. "I don't want any competition." She smiled at Kakashi like a wolf smiled at a big piece of meat.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Was he the only one who cared about actually being a ninja?

He turned back to Kakashi and slapped him hard.

Slowly Kakashi's eyes regained their focus.

He looked at Naruto, then at Sakura and Sasuke.

"I had the strangest dream." He finally said.

"Oh, what was it about, stud-muffin?" Sakura asked.

Wow, from nearly back to catatonic in one second flat.

Naruto glared at Sakura. "Could you not send him into shock again? We kinda need to talk to him before these two wake up."

"You are boring." She glared at him.

He slapped Kakashi again.

"Wake up sensei. We have to talk."

Kakashi focused on him. "I'm dreaming right? You guys aren't from the future and you and Sasuke aren't going to betray the village. Sakura isn't going to join up with Madara... and why the hell do I believe you when you say stuff like that? How do you know about things like that anyway?"

Naruto shrugged. "As Sakura said, time-travel."

"But Sasuke can't be the Kyuubi carrier if you are... were the carrier as well." Kakashi pointed out.

"Different time-lines." Sakura interjected. "Since one of us ripped a hole in time and space the boundaries to this world were weakened and made it easier for others to break into it. So, even though we come from different worlds we all ended up here. If there are other time-travelers at the same time they will have ended up here as well."

Naruto nodded, he had no idea if what she said actually had any truth in it, or if she made it up as she went along. But it sounded plausible.

"What she said."

Kakashi looked from one to the other.

"I still don't know why I believe you... I mean beside the fact that you took out a high class missing nin..." He stared at Zabuza for a second. "Which admittedly does lend a lot of credibility to your story."

Naruto nodded. "How about this? Rasengan!"

And a nice and easy basic Rasengan appeared on his hand. He could have gone and released the Kyuubi to prove he actually could do it. But he liked the house a bit too much for that.

Kakashi had developed a twitch at his point.

Sasuke shrugged. "I got the fully developed Sharingan by the way... wait, do I?" His eyes sprung into the familiar form of the mangekyo sharingan, before they returned to their state without sharingan.

"Well... I will need to swap them with Itachi again if I want to keep them." He muttered.

"Huh? What? Swap them with Itachi?" Naruto stared at Sasuke.

"Yeah, as soon as I activated the mangekyo me and Itachi switched out eyes, it's weird but if you do it you can use them as long as you like. If you don't, if you don't forget that connection to your brother or other family members you'll go blind." Sasuke explained.

Naruto and Kakashi gaped at Sasuke.

"For the full effect you have to give the eyes willingly. And man, it's kinda creepy removing your own eyes and replacing them with your brothers. But well worth it."

Sakura burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she lost the grip on her bottle and started rolling on the floor. "Ahahahaha! Hahahah! And Madara thought he had to take their eyes by force."

Sasuke nodded and glared at the wall. "Yeah, he always perverted the spirit of the eyes... like many in the clan. They thought you would need to kill your best friend, based on Madara's teachings. They didn't even realize that you get these eyes to protect your friends. To prevent something like the loss of a friend from ever happening again."

He shook his head. "Idiots, the lot of them. It's extreme emotions that awake the various stages of the sharingan. Emotions like the loss of a loved one."

Naruto stared at Sasuke. It made sense, a philosophy completely at odds with Madara's, and yet it had the same result. Two viewpoints, two solutions to a problem and both could solve the problem. Sasuke's of course was the better solution. But you would need a desire to protect for Sasuke's solution; lust for power wouldn't help with that one.

Sakura apparently attempted to laugh herself to death, judging by the short gasping breaths she took in-between laughs.

He looked at Kakashi, who stared at Sasuke in utter incomprehension.

"You, Sharingan! Full!" He stuttered. "Mangekyo?"

He pointed at Naruto. "Rasengan! Sensei! Madness!"

"No... hahahah, madness... hehehe... madness would be me. Bwahahaha!" Sakura snorted.

Kakashi took a deep breath in an attempt to reboot his brain.

"Time-travel?" He asked cautiously.

"Well, that's our explanation." Naruto nodded he glanced at Sakura. "Though apparently Madara would disagree, but who cares about him?"

Sasuke agreed emphatically. "Yeah, he's an asshole. And he needs to be taken down and fast!"

"Well, I agree. Hell Madara himself agrees. He told me I would need to either talk him out of it or kill him in order to prevent the end of the world... of course he also told me to kill you two to prevent even the chance of it happening. But I think the chance of that is pretty slim at this point. So you get to live." She glared at Naruto.

"Not to mention the fact that if you can control the Kyuubi I don't think I can kill you. You could just regenerate from any damage I do after all." She looked at him speculatively. "Unless, can you regenerate from decapitation?"

Naruto glared back at the crazy bitch. "I don't know, and I have no desire to try and find out either."

Kakashi coughed silently. "I... well... I will have to think about this, you realize that don't you?"

"Of course." Sasuke smiled at him. "We can't expect you to just believe something like that. Even with the proof we have shown you. You need some time to think about it? Take it, we have time. Gato doesn't have anybody else as strong as Zabuza."

They all looked at the man in question, who also had just woken up.

"Can I guard him? Pretty please?" Sakura asked. "He's such an interesting character. I promise not to torture him. At least not physically."

Naruto looked at Zabuza, he had some good to him yeah, but that didn't change the fact that he had a lot more bad about him than good.

"Well, I have no problems with that. But no torturing Haku got it?" He looked her deep in the eyes.

She rolled her eye but gave in. "Sure, sure. No torturing Haku, got it."

"Ehem, I'm the team leader here, not Naruto." Kakashi tried to wrest some control back to himself. How cute.

"So, you want to guard him then?" Naruto asked. "I thought you needed time to sort through our tale?"

Kakashi glared at him, then at Sakura. "Fine, Haruno you guard Zabuza. All three of you... don't break my brain anymore please? At least for today?"

Naruto shrugged. "We'll try, no promises though."

Kakashi walked out of the door, head hanging. "Best I can expect from you three I suppose." And with those words he disappeared, going somewhere to think.

"Well," Naruto glanced at Zabuza. "We'll leave you to play with your new toy Sakura. And please, don't break him too badly."

He shuddered. He didn't want to leave Zabuza alone with her. But he could feel her frustration. It practically rolled off her.

If messing with Zabuza calmed her down... well he deserved it anyway, so Naruto didn't have too many problems with it.

Sasuke waved goodbye to Zabuza. "Sorry about this, but from what I heard you are an asshole. So I don't feel too bad about leaving you alone with her."

Naruto looked at Sakura's face and shuddered. Nobody should smile like that, the Kyuubi smiled like that!

He quickly followed Sasuke out of the room. Hopefully once she finished she would have calmed down somewhat.

-o-

Zabuza stared at the girl in front of him.

He didn't remember what exactly had happened in the previous battle. He just knew that he couldn't move at all.

And whenever he tried to remember what happened to put him into this state he ran into a wall. Repressing the horrible, horrible memories probably.

What the hell did Kakashi do to him?

And now they left him with this little girl. He snorted. They would regret this. When they came back the girl would be a gibbering wreck. He had so many little stories to tell her.

"So, you think you can torture me?" He smiled his best smile at her. The smile that made little kids faint, and civilians piss themselves.

She had stared at the door through which her team had disappeared. Now she slowly turned around.

He could already taste her fear.

And then her face came into view and with it came the smile. His heart stopped for a moment. The bloodlust in that smile... forced himself to calm down. Even if the smile split her face in half, revealing row after row of glittering sharp, shark-like teeth, it didn't mean she managed to scare him.

"Hmm I wonder how you would taste? I bet delicious." She liked her lips, disturbing him greatly.

He had to admit, the threat of cannibalism had a lot going for it. Once he got out of this situation he might just have to use it for himself.

She dropped on all fours and scampered over to him, flipped the blanket off of him and sniffed his arm.

"What the hell?" He shouted, or tried to. It came out as a squeak. Fuck!

"Hmm you smell sooo good." She licked his arm.

His eye twitched. Ok, he had to admit the act worked. He actually believed her when she told him she wanted to eat him. She was good!

"Ok, I'll admit, you are good. Now ask me what you want to know. I'll tell you, just stop with the..."

Her stomach growled.

Zabuza didn't whimper. He had never whimpered before, he wouldn't start now.

"Hmm sooo tasty... but I'm not allowed..." The girl whined.

Zabuza breathed a sigh of relief.

"But if it's just a tiny little bite? Nobody would notice right?" She looked him into the eyes, that smile, that horrible, horrible smile still on her face. Her tongue going over her lips again and again, as she sniffed his arm.

"Help!" He whimpered and now his memories returned. The kids had beaten him! Him, little kids fresh out of the academy! And they had done it without breaking a sweat, as if he was some little kid himself!

Oh god, what had he gotten himself and Haku into? He could see Haku laying on a futon to the side, unconscious.

The girls head followed his gaze.

"Ohh... I haven't promised I wouldn't touch him..."

His eyes widened and he growled at her, desperately trying to get up.

She wouldn't touch Haku, he still had uses for the boy!

"He won't miss an arm, I'm sure." She licked her lips as she sniffed on Haku's arm.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Zabuza screamed. She was bluffing, she had to be bluffing.

"Why? Do you care for him?" She leered at Zabuza. Even with one arm he'll be a good tool... hmm and maybe with one leg?"

She leaned over the defenseless Haku and pulled out a kunai.

"No! You can't!" Damn it. Haku was gifted, he wouldn't let a bitch like that destroy him. Slowly he pushed himself up and began to crawl towards the girl, who looked at Haku's arm, deciding where to cut it.

Silently, desperate to avoid any sound, even breathing Zabuza crawled towards her. Nearly there Haku had only been a few feet away, just a little bit faster.

"Hehehe, too bad." The bitch giggled and slashed down, neatly severing Haku's arm from his body.

She picked it up and took a deep bite. Zabuza stared in horror, she, she was worse than him, so much worse. At least he killed his victims, he didn't cripple them for life.

He noticed a tear fall down his face. He could feel the hysterical laughter bubble up.

The girl watched him in cruel amusement. Then she shook her head.

"Honestly? I expected better from you, to break so easily…" She patted him on the head.

He whirled around and there she stood, a wide grin on her face, without the shark teeth, and it didn't split her face in half.

"Geez I may be a cruel bitch, and I might even eat you if you're the only source of food around, but seriously, to fall for a genjutsu of that level? Weak!" She laughed at him, and pushed him back into his bed. "Well I suppose it proved that you care for your apprentice, at least on some level.

He stared at her, then at Haku, who still had all limbs and rested peacefully on the futon.

"Hehehe." He couldn't stop the laughter, it just bubbled up." HAHAHAHA." Hysteria had him firmly in its grasp and so he laughed, laughed till it hurt.

That bitch... she beat him, to conjure images so disturbing...

"What are you?" He asked after he regained some control.

She watched him, her eyes meeting his. And he recognized himself there, a monster barely concealed behind human flesh.

A monster that hid some shreds of humanity beneath it all.

She shrugged. "I'm a ninja."

He chuckled, quietly at first, but it soon broke out into a second episode of hysterical laughter.

A ninja, what a perfect answer to his question.

-o-

Kakashi stared at the water of the lake. Time-travel.

He flung a little stone into the water. Could you do it? Turn back the clock and try again?

Just like that? And if you could, why didn't anybody else try? Come to think of it, they didn't explain how they did it. He might get an idea there.

But, well, it made sense. The knowledge, the skills. The disregard for authority.

Ok, that last one might just be a natural part of their characters.

Still, time-travel made more sense than any other theory. Any theory that didn't involve Konoha being riddled with spies that nobody knew about.

He threw another stone and watched it sink into the lake.

The question now was what to do about it.

He couldn't just let them run free. He actually couldn't be sure they weren't lying to him after all. More observations were necessary... and a visit to Ibiki, to get every useful shred of knowledge out of them...

Then again, if Naruto did control the Kyuubi... keeping him imprisoned might not be the smartest move they could make.

Though Kakashi suspected that he would let Ibiki ask him every question he wanted, as long as Ibiki didn't ask Sasuke or Sakura.

So, no interrogation, ever. Too risky. And, quite frankly Kakashi didn't want that to happen to them anyway.

When Sakura called him captain... he got a warm and fuzzy feeling. Just like every time he got called captain, especially when his subordinates meant it. Like Sakura did. She looked up to him.

He glanced back, in the direction of the house. No, he couldn't disappoint them, never mind waste their potential. Sasuke and Naruto were absolute powerhouses, Sasuke already had enough chakra, and the finesse needed to craft quite convincing genjutsu. Though granted, the sharingan helped a lot there.

But to use it so causally in battle...

No, he wouldn't allow that talent to be wasted in some cell under the village... if they could even keep Sasuke. Itachi had proven just how dangerous a single Uchiha could be.

Or... had he been alone? Or had Madara been there, if they said the truth, he still hung around. Hiding and scheming. Bidding his time.

If Itachi had help from him...

Kakashi sighed. He knew too little. The brats had told him just enough to make him believe them and nothing more.

And he couldn't forget their prisoners. What to do with them?

Haku would be easy. They could just take him with them, hand him over to Ibiki and after Ibiki declared him safe he could become a ninja of Konoha... if he decided that's what he wanted to do.

If Konoha executed Zabuza... well, chances would be slim.

But what else could Konoha do with him? Just let him join?

Keep him imprisoned and risk Zabuza breaking out?

Kakashi whimpered. He just saw no way to keep Zabuza alive, like Naruto and Sasuke wanted to.

Sakura would be more pragmatic, he had no doubt about it. Slit Zabuza's throat, ditch the corpse in the next forest, forget about it.

If only she were the only team-member. It would make this so much easier.

And morally bankrupt, but he could deal with that.

On the other hand, he could delegate the decision. The Hokage could decide what to do with Zabuza and Kakashi would have the whole situation out of his hair.

Yeees. That sounded like an ideal solution. For Kakashi at least.

In the mean time there was still a mission to complete. Though with his team of time-traveling ninja the mission had pretty much been degraded to D-Rank level.

He doubted Gato had more ninja than Zabuza.

The rest of his men would be easy pickings.

-o-

Sakura purred as she ate. Naruto noticed with a mixture of dread and relief.

He had checked up on Zabuza and the man had been in one piece. But he hadn't talked, not even to insult Naruto. He had just stared up, at the ceiling.

A tired and weary grin on his face.

At least the session had calmed Sakura and apparently shown Zabuza not to mess with them.

Kakashi had returned and stared at them, as if he didn't know how to handle them now.

Maybe Sakura had been onto something when she said not to reveal themselves. But what was done was done.

Sasuke massaged an arm, where Naruto had hit him in their spar.

They had decided to work out their nervous energies in the time honored tradition of males everywhere: Beat the shit out of each other.

It had worked beautifully. And it reminded Naruto of his youth, so long ago. Rough housing with Kiba and Shikamaru...

Or getting beaten up by Sasuke for being annoying. Good times, good times. He only had to worry about getting revenge on the moody bastard, not on keeping the demon in check, run from Akatsuki, or even worse Madara and Sasuke.

Simpler times.

"You are going to die!" Inari said, slamming his bowl onto the table. "Why do you fight, you'll just die!" He screamed at them.

Sakura looked at him blankly, before she disappeared under the table, laughing hysterically.

Sasuke refrained from mocking the poor boy so openly and merely snickered.

Naruto sighed. They really didn't need to do that. He glared at Sakura, and she knew what the boy went through... which of course to her would seem like a total joke.

"Sakura stop it already. It's not his fault that he doesn't realize that we already de-clawed Gato." He told her. If only he could beat the stuffing out of her... once?

He looked at her speculatively. Now that they had captured Zabuza, they would have some time. And maybe they could convince him to cooperate, with the promise of gentle treatment.

Which mostly would consist of somebody beside Sakura keeping watch over him.

"Gato's strong, you have no chance to beat him!" Inari glared at them.

Sakura had stopped laughing for a few seconds, but now she started again.

"Bwahahah, oh, hahaha, the kid should become a comedian. Hahaha"

Sasuke grinned at the boy. "Kid, we already took out the missing nin Gato hired. The rest of his men are nothing more than useless thugs. Even a genin fresh from the academy can take them out without breaking a sweat."

"He's rich, he'll hire more ninja." Inari remained stubborn.

And Naruto could understand him, if they beat Gato just like that. Not the slightest bit of trouble. What did that say about the village? What did it say about his father?

"Hey, Inari. Your grandfather got us to wave so he can build the bridge and stop Gato. We..." Naruto threw a boot at Sakura, who dodged by rolling out of the way. Naruto choose to consider the lack of retaliation as progress. "Stop laughing already, it's funny we get it."

"Heee... hee... he. But, it's just Zabuza already told me where Gato's hideout is. So, I figured tomorrow I would go there, kill him, take as much money as I can and make myself very popular in wave." She grinned saucily at Inari. "Why I'll be called a hero!"

Inari sputtered and ran out of the room.

Sakura commenced laughing again a second later.

Tsunami and Tazuna looked at each other, then at Naruto. Who held his head in his hand.

Kakashi had buried his nose in his book and kept out of the debate to the best of his abilities.

Why did everybody always look to him for guidance? What use were adults anyway?

"I apologize for Sakura." And my, wasn't that a first? "She... well, she has some extremely bad memories. Memories that make Inari losing his father look like a walk in the park. So... well, um... don't think too badly of her?"

They stared at him mouth hanging open. "How did you know?" Tsunami asked.

"Great going iiiiiidiot!" Sakura grinned from her position on the floor.

"Ok that's it! You me outside. You want to beat me into a bloody pulp? Well I want to beat you into a bloody pulp too!" Naruto didn't shout at Sakura. He restrained his temper. He had gotten better at that lately.

Sakura looked back at him with narrowed eyes. "No using the damn fox." She said.

"No using the fox I promise. I'll punch your face in all by myself." A feral grin had spread over his face.

"Oh no! They shouldn't!" Tsunami glared at Kakashi.

"Awesome! Man, this will be a show!" Sasuke had jumped up. "Hmm I think Haku and Zabuza should see this as well. Might make them realize with whom they are dealing."

Kakashi nodded and Naruto had to agree as well. "Can you two get them?" He asked Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Sure thing." Sasuke said.

"Who made you boss?" Kakashi asked blandly.

"You when you left this all to me!" Naruto shouted back.

"Oh... so I did." Kakashi grinned at him and wandered after Sasuke.

"You shouldn't fight amongst yourselves." Tsunami scolded them.

Sakura snorted at her and turned to Naruto. "Less talking, more beating each other into a bloody mess. You have no idea how long I waited for this. And don't worry I'll try not to kill you."

Naruto turned to the gaping civilians. "Again, sorry about this, but as she said, this is something we have to do, or she'll never get over it. In fact I think Sasuke should have a fight with her as well." They stared at him in incomprehension. "Consider it team-building. Yeah, that's a good description for it. Oh and let Inari watch as well. It will be educational."

-o-

Sasuke grinned excitedly as he stormed into the room they used. Zabuza glared slightly at him, but he seemed rather subdued. Aftereffects of exposure to Sakura, Sasuke suspected.

"Hi there, you are in luck. Apparently Naruto and Sakura have decided that the only way to develop some team spirit is to beat each other up. Ergo you get to watch a hopefully awesome battle. Especially since Sakura promised not to kill Naruto." Sasuke paused for breath.

"Well, she said she would try not to kill him, but even if she did. He's got the Kyuubi so whatever. Not as if he can't recover from decapitation... probably."

Ohh, messing with Zabuza was fun. Reminding him just how powerful Naruto is.

"And well he said he can control the nine tails as well. Not that I have proof, but... I believe him. I doubt he would lie." He kneed beside Haku and dispelled the genjutsu keeping him asleep.

"Good evening. Since Sakura and Naruto decided to throw a show you are invited to come and watch. Zabuza too." Sasuke grinned at the pretty kid.

At least he didn't combine pretty with handsome. Sasuke resisted the urge to glare at Kakashi, who had showed up now. Why did he have to be the perfect mix between feminine and masculine? Just enough femininity to accentuate his masculine charm into the perfect bishonen.

At least he had the decency to wear a mask.

"Wha?" Haku asked flabbergasted, he probably hadn't woken up yet. And Sasuke talked pretty fast in his excitement. The battle should be rather good.

Zabuza sighed. "Don't cause any trouble Haku. The girl is the weakest of them... but she's also the most dangerous." He laughed weakly. "We are... not even in their league."

"Good of you to realize that. But well, hurry it up sensei, we're gonna miss the fight!"

Sasuke stared as Kakashi stiffened and suddenly developed back problems.

Wow, quite realistic ones too.

Memo to self, don't piss him off, he'll be ready when he's ready.

"Oh well, I suppose I have to make do with Haku. Come on." And with that he dragged a confused Haku down the stairs and out of the house. This would be awesome.

-o-

Zabuza stared at Kakashi, who looked back blankly.

They stood like that for a few seconds, neither saying a word.

"What are they?" Zabuza finally asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I figure karmic punishment for my life..." He rubbed his chin and looked at Zabuza. "Probably for yours too."

Zabuza considered that for a few seconds, then nodded. "Probably."

Silence reigned for a few more seconds. From outside the first sounds of battle could be heard.

"You know... I could use somebody sane on the way back to Konoha." Kakashi said.

"And you thought of me... how nice." Zabuza snorted.

"Would you prefer I let Sakura or Sasuke handle your transport?"

Zabuza considered some more.

"You will make a wonderful travel-companion to my execution." Zabuza finally said cheerfully.

Kakashi nodded. "As long as we understand each other. Though... maybe you might, possibly... live. Maybe."

"How reassuring." Zabuza deadpanned, as Kakashi picked him up.

The battle sounds rose in volume, it appeared they had finished warming up.

-o-

Sakura laughed madly. She had practiced that laugh often and not always in front of a reflective surface. Unless you counted your enemies as such.

Naruto, of course, weathered the laugh like he weathered her killing intent; with an easy smirk and only the slightest cringe.

They had jumped around each other, punching and kicking, testing the others defenses.

No punch or kick had actually landed yet, though Sakura had managed to throw Naruto into a tree.

"Well, there the last of the spectators are." Sakura commented as Kakashi carried Zabuza out and set him down beside Haku.

The boy had observed their warm-up with some interest, but nothing like the total awe Inari had displayed.

"I think this means we can finish the warm-up?"

Naruto rolled his shoulders, nodding. "Sure, I really, really want to beat the stupid out of you." He showed her his teeth, in what could be considered a grin, if you were charitable.

Sakura snorted. "What are you waiting for then? Come get me!"

"As you wish."

Naruto's hand flew into his favorite seal, and a second later Sakura found herself surrounded by over a hundred Narutos.

"Hehehe, oh what are you guys going to do to poor defenseless me?" She leered at them, but they didn't react beyond a raised eyebrow.

"You? Defenseless?" Don't make me laugh. One of them spoke up.

She had already lost the real Naruto. If he even bothered to stand with his clones.

Two clones jumped at her, but they were so slow, Sakura didn't even bother enhancing her muscles the slightest to punch them out.

"The hell?" She shouted as the clones, instead of disappearing in a cloud of smoke simply fell on their backs and pushed themselves up again.

"... they can take a punch now can they?" She glared at the Narutos surrounding her.

She could hear a gasp from the assembled ninja. The civilians probably hadn't gotten over the shock of the shadow clones yet.

"Oh, they can take more than one measly punch Sakura-chan." One of the clones taunted her.

"Heh, just means I have to actually kill them!" Sakura shouted and jumped forward, slamming a kunai into the first clone she reached. He promptly disappeared in the expected cloud of smoke.

Two clones tried to grab her arms, but a slight twist and all they reached were the kunai Sakura threw into their faces.

"One hundred clones won't be enough to beat me pest!" Sakura laughed as she danced through the enemies surrounding her. She dodged fist, feet and elbows that rained down on her with causal ease, leaned into one attack, out of another and all the while whirled her kunai around her, slashing throats and offending appendages with a smile on her face.

Two clones stepped in front of her, kunai of their own in hand and these moved much faster than the others. Sakura had gotten so into the slow rhythm of the slaughter, that she couldn't react fast enough and the clones managed to grab arms.

Another Naruto stepped in front of her.

"I can make more clones if I need them. But you haven't even destroyed more than... sixty..." He coughed and Sakura grinned at him. She had done it in under 60 seconds too.

"Which I must say is impressive. But now," He reared his fist back. "time to work out some frustrations."

Sakura rolled her eyes. He made sure with Haku, she bet he would have made sure with Zabuza and Sasuke as well, but he left her legs unbound, the idiot.

She lashed out in a kick and focused some chakra into her boots.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the boot, and the blade at its tip, approach his face at high velocity.

Sakura laughed as the clone dispelled. "Ohh, you would send a clone to beat me up?"

"We are only starting. It seemed weird to actually attack you myself."

Sakura nodded and looked at the two clones holding her. "I wonder... can your clones recover from... this?"

A spike of killing intent tore from her, carefully limited to her immediate surroundings. No reason to give the civilians a heart attack.

The chakra ripped into the clones holding her and with an awesome expression of pure panic they disappeared. Any clone too close, which were most of them, disappeared as well.

"Did, did she just dispel shadowclones, just by spiking her killing intent?" Zabuza shouted from the sidelines.

"Hell yeah she's awesome!" Sasuke shouted back.

Now that her field of vision had cleared she could see the faces of Inari and Tsunami.

They made a nice mirror of slack jawed incomprehension to Zabuza's look of awe and horror.

The remaining clones looked at each other, a few shrugged. "So what?" They all flew into the handseals again, this time over 500 clones appeared. "I'm not going to run out of chakra before..."

Sakura had flared her killing intent again, stronger than before, a mocking smirk on her lips as most of the clones disappeared a second after they had been summoned.

"Aww, did I make your favorite technique useless Naru-kins?"

Over 100 clones remained still, but all of them had developed an interesting twitch on their faces.

"I am so learning that technique!" Sasuke and Kakashi shouted as one.

"What the hell?" Shouted Inari, who had finally found his voice again. "What are you people?"

"Complete and utter monsters." Zabuza muttered, staring at Sakura and Naruto with adoration. He turned to Kakashi. "I actually want to join Konoha now. I mean you guys seem like idealistic idiots... but I'll be damned if the results don't speak for themselves."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and pointed to Sakura. "I think they are continuing."

Oh, so he didn't want to give any comment to that? Sakura could understand him. They were cheating with the time-travel thingy.

Still, all actors did somehow come from Konoha, even those that sent them back, so in a roundabout way...

She leaned back and let the Naruto sail over her, a spinning kick sent him into... oblivion as the clone disappeared.

She grinned at the rest. "I see, the stronger the clone, the more punishment he can take the more chakra it takes for you to make him. And the more chakra you have to use, the less clones you can make."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "While that is the gist of it, you forget one thing."

"No Kyuubi, you proooomised!" She sing-song-ed.

Again Naruto rolled his eyes. "I don't need the Kyuubi to created 500 clones strong enough to take a knife in the gut.

"Bullshit!" Zabuza screamed. Kakashi didn't scream, but he sure as hell seemed to want to. He looked so funny, his one visible eye as wide as a wagon wheel.

Ohh and she would have to do something nice for Zabuza, as Naruto smirked at him and his chakra practically exploded out of him.

The idiot had forgotten that he didn't have the endurance of his older body, so even if he could pull off the 500 super clones, it would leave him considerably weakened.

While it would take Sakura barely any chakra at all, to destroy them again.

Once again she found herself surrounded by over 500 Narutos... she might have to reconsider her policy on sleeping with him, the stamina to produce so many clones... he might be even better than Lee.

"You gonna let me stick it in?" She asked, playing with a kunai.

A little whimper could be heard from Inari as he watched the army Sakura had destroyed a second ago reassemble just like it had been destroyed.

"Sure, go ahead. He wouldn't believe me otherwise." A Naruto panted.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. She had only one or two, maybe three high speed attacks, she couldn't afford to waste even one on a clone.

She dashed at that Naruto, who backed away wide eyed. "Not me you crazy bitch one of them!" He shouted retreating.

Sakura let up. The other clones hindered her advance and she wouldn't potentially waste her technique on a clone.

Instead she causally rammed a kunai into another clone. It stuck, as the clone grimaced in pain.

"Ohh, you are so gonna feel that in the morning." She grinned at them. Then she blinked. "By the way how did it feel to get my killing intent by over 400 clones at once?

A grimace came over the assembled Narutos. "Let's not talk about it."

"Hehehe. Nice. Oh well, time to send you back to zero again." She grinned and spiked her killing intent again.

And gulped. Only one in ten clones had dispelled.

"Eheheheee..." She laughed weakly. Some clones looked decidedly translucent now, but most of them still stood, ready to fight.

The mass of Narutos grinned wickedly at her. "Not so easy now? Huh?" They shouted in a deafening roar.

Another weapon at Naruto's disposal. Damn.

Then again, she hadn't revealed all her weapons yet either.

"No, not so easy. But since you have neither sharingan, nor byankuan... you can't defend against this." Her hands flew into several seals and she expelled her chakra in a complicated web, that settled over the army of Narutos.

-o-

Naruto blinked, then blinked again. He couldn't see anything. His entire surroundings were black. He took a breath but immediately stopped. The air stank. And suddenly cruel laughter filled his ears.

"Hahaha. How do you like my 'Black Abyss' genjutsu?" Sakura's voice whispered into his ear.

"It's my masterpiece... and really my only genjutsu. The others are just a few basic illusions. But this one. Ahh this one has saved my ass so often, it's ridiculous." She laughed again and Naruto could feel several of his clones disperse, as she slashed them down.

She went through them like wet tissue, now that they were blinded. But as soon as they could hear her.

"Just one more thing: This is a prerecorded message, built into the genjutsu. Enjoy the brief silence, because the only thing you'll hear from now on is... death." Sakura whispered again, just before a horrible screech assaulted Naruto's ears.

The sound ate its way into Naruto's soul and found something to take hold of there. For the first time in years, he felt fear. Not the fear to fail, to disappoint your friends or yourself. No, the fear of death. So basic, so normal. And only now did he even remember that fear.

Before the screech even stopped another filled the air. Coupled with the dead of another 5 clones and he started shaking. Damn, how did Sakura create that sound?

He breathed shallowly. How could he stop this? Pain... or. His hands flew into the seal and he whispered "Kai!" through the rising cacophony.

The genjutsu tore asunder with ease. There had been barely any resistance at all.

He grinned, as he watched his clones recover.

"Nice try Sakura, but really. It only bought you a few..."

Darkness claimed him once again. And with it the stink and the inhuman screeches.

"What the-?" He shouted and formed the seal again.

Again the genjutsu broke without any resistance, but Sakura still had managed to slaughter more of his clones.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes again the darkness had returned.

Shit. The genjutsu caught him again, as soon as he had escaped. He would only have glimpses of Sakura. Allowing her to merrily slaughter his army. He could created more... but... he narrowed his eyes. Maybe there would be an easier solution.

He created a new clone, with orders to dismiss itself immediately if the genjutsu affected it as well.

A few seconds later Naruto had his confirmation. The genjutsu only covered a certain ground. Sakura didn't target him, or even all his clones. Which meant, in his few seconds of clarity he had to leave the affected area and he could see again.

"Kai!" He whispered once again. And the world sprang into focus. Sakura slaughtered his clones on the other side of the clearing, laughing madly. He would have no problem slipping away and hiding.

If only the damn screeching didn't interrupt his thoughts again and again. Whenever he heard it he stopped for a second to refocus. And in the darkness he heard it constantly.

It took him four more tries, and many more clones, before he made it out of the constant darkness.

From his new vantage point he could see Sakura, slash and stab his clones in mad glee.

Man, she really used the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of revenge.

He grinned, but if she enjoyed herself enough to only see his bleeding face. He should be able to slip in more and more clones, until she slowly exhausted herself.

His hands formed the familiar seals and ten more clones appeared. He sent them into the genjutsu, where they immediately started stumbling and running into each other.

Kinda funny from his vantage point. Luckily they did managed to stumble into Sakura's general direction.

He settled down. Having his shadow clones beat her wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as beating the asshole out of her himself, but he would just have to finish her, once the clones softened her up.

It actually surprised him how fast she could build up her stamina to keep running around like that.

And hmm, watching her jump and slash and whirl around... he could grow used to that.

He chuckled silently as an explosive note went up roughly in the middle of the genjutsu.

There hadn't been more than ten clones there. What a waste of an exploding tag.

He looked back at Sakura, just as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Fuck!" He managed to mutter, before a spinning kick, delivered at incredible speed smashed into the back of his head and send him back into the genjutsu.

Luckily the horrible pain in the back of his head prevented him from falling into it again. He whirled around, standing wobbly, only to catch a fist or ten... or twenty with his face.

Briefly darkness and him became reacquainted. Then he regained his consciousness.

He could see Sakura bearing down on him again. And he knew he had no chance to catch her. Only one choice then. He had never actually tried this, but damn, the idea sounded cool. And if Neji could do his spinning thing. Then Naruto could very well create a whole body basic rasengan.

-o-

Sakura laughed as she charged into Naruto punching him dead in the face felt so damn good!

She could feel years of repressed rage leaving her system. As soon as she had the opportunity she would do the same for Sasuke.

And once she had enough power? Danzo would get to know her fists personally.

And Orochimaru! And that pale eyed bitch! And while she was at it, Madara deserved one as well. Never mind Ino and the rest of the fuckers who dared die on her!

"Yes! I'll punch out the whole fucking world!" She roared, rearing her fist back for the mother of all punches.

Just as Naruto literally exploded in a whirlwind of chakra.

Sakura could only utter a startled "Wha?" Before the sphere surrounding Naruto caught her, ripped at her clothes and skin, before it drew her in.

For the fraction of a second she could see Naruto, mouth open in a silent scream. Then the sphere ejected her again, sending her across the clearing, through several shadow clones and into a tree.

A few seconds later she could see again. Twenty seconds after that she managed to greedily suck in some air.

Another twenty seconds passed before she dared to open her eyes.

Naruto stood in the middle on the other side of the clearing. No more of his clones remained. Either dispelled by him, or they simply disappeared because he had no chakra left.

He actually didn't look much better than she felt. Groaning she attempted to push herself up.

But the sharp pain, running through her arms, legs and well every single piece of her body prevented her from doing that. Instead she decided to give it a few more minutes.

From her position she couldn't see the spectators. But she hoped they were suitably awed. Hmm they might actually not see much, if they stood too close. Her genjutsu would have prevented them from seeing anything as well... oops.

"Hahaha!" Naruto laughed loudly. Sakura narrowed her eyes. He couldn't have recovered already?

"Well, seems like I win Sakura." He shouted at her.

Sakura felt her left eye twitch. Oh, he thought he had won, did he?

She pushed herself up, ignoring the pain. This little bit of agony couldn't stop her. Hell, it wouldn't even slow her down!

With satisfaction she noted Naruto's incredulous stare.

"Wha? No way! You should be knocked out!" He shouted, before he attempted to take a step back, wobbled and fell down.

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but only a wet gurgle came out. She frowned and spit out the blood.

Then she shouted back at him. "Don't make me laugh Uzumaki. I learned to ignore my body long ago. These little scratches will never slow me down!"

And then she rushed at him. Much slower than before.

But Naruto didn't move much faster himself. Slower actually.

He would be ready just when she reached him. Sakura bit her lip and accelerated. Just a bit faster and she would reach him before he regained his balance.

Naruto glared at her and pushed himself faster as well.

"Oh no, you won't!" She shouted as she pulled her last chakra out. Pushing her body beyond its limits for a few brief seconds.

Naruto whimpered as she crashed into him and slammed him to the ground. But instead of giving in and taking it like the bitch he was, he rolled with her attack and threw her over him, slamming her painfully in the ground.

She coughed weakly and spit out some more blood. But pushed herself up nevertheless and threw herself at him again.

He apparently hadn't considered her up to it, without at least a small rest. Or the counter attack had taken more out of him than she thought. She didn't care though. All that mattered was her fist and his face and the interaction between the two of them.

Viciously she slammed her fist into his face. A loud crunching sound rewarded her, as well as the feeling of something giving way.

But instead of whimpering, like before Naruto snarled and rammed a knee into her stomach. She gasped, but remained on top. She wouldn't give up her advantageous spot. Again she slammed her fist down, this time she hit his jaw.

A sharp crack informed her she broke it. She grinned at him, until he slammed a fist into her ribs and she felt she sharp spike of pain as they gave in. She suppressed the scream, instead she simply coughed blood all over Naruto's face.

"Bastard!" She hissed. "Bich" He moaned back. She repositioned her left leg, while he was distracted by his broken jaw and kneed him in the groin.

His eyes popping out was the funniest thing Sakura could remember seeing. Ever.

She though she heard somebody else groan, but over the thundering of her blood, she couldn't be sure.

And the sudden pain running through her chest, as Naruto punched her tits in retaliation certainly rearranged her priorities.

The additional pain from her broken ribs just added icing to the pain-cake at this point.

Whimpering she fell off Naruto, who had fallen back and curled in on himself.

"Well, can I assume this fight is over?" Kakashi asked, wincing as he took stock of their injuries.

Sakura didn't bother answering, she actually didn't think she could.

Naruto didn't say anything either. Maybe he fainted.

"And so you see Inari, Gato doesn't stand a chance." Sasuke explained to the slack jawed kid. At least Sakura assumed the weird lump to be Inari, she couldn't actually see all that well.

-o-

Sasuke grinned at his two teammates. Sure they just hurt each other horribly. But then, they were ninja. And, as Anko always said: 'Ninja know one language and one language only, violence.'

So for these two this actually was nothing more than a rather empathic discussion.

He remembered his own discussions with Naruto fondly. One time they actually managed to level the academy...

Actually that had sucked. Naruto's father had made them rebuild it. It had taken over three months, even with shadow clones.

"But... they knocked each other out! And I think Naruto's jaw is broken! How are they going to fight Gato?" Inari whimpered.

"Actually Sakura has it worse, a broken jaw doesn't stop you from fighting after all, now her broken ribs? That would do it." Sasuke shrugged.

Haku stepped beside the two of them. "Uhh... if you would help me, I know some herbs that are going to help them heal, so I could go and collect them."

Kakashi grinned at the boy. "That sounds like an excellent idea. And I'm sure Sasuke will have no problem with helping you collect them."

In other words keep an eye on the boy. And well yeah, Sasuke didn't have a problem with that, but...

"Now?" He looked at the sky. Sure, the battle had been short, but it had been late when they had started. "I rather doubt we'll find much now."

Haku nodded. "Yes, we should wait until tomorrow."

Zabuza stared at Naruto. "What... what was that last thing he tried to do?" He asked Kakashi, who had dragged him around the entire time.

Kakashi rubbed his chin in thought. "You have heard of the Fourth I assume?" He asked Zabuza, who nodded in reply.

"Good, well you might also have heard about a jutsu he made, the rasengan."

Again Zabuza nodded. Sasuke could see his eyes growing wide even in the weak light of dusk.

"Well, apparently Naruto just tried a whole body version of it." Kakashi hid his terror well, Sasuke thought. He couldn't even see the shaking without the sharingan.

"But... isn't the rasengan supposed to be a horribly destructive technique because of the forces it concentrates on a very small area?" Zabuza asked.

"Well, why do you think he looks as if somebody has put him through a meat-grinder... or the clearing looks as if somebody with a passionate hatred for the ground came through?"

Zabuza nodded. "And he can make it with his whole body?"

Kakashi dragged him over to Sakura. Who, Sasuke noted, lacked most of her clothing, due to rasengan.

It would be totally wrong, to use his sharingan to record this of course... oh wait he had his sharingan active! Whoops. Oh well, now that he had already burned the image into his mind he might as well look from other angles.

He dragged Haku with him, just to see what Kakashi was doing of course. He had to make sure nothing untoward happened.

Inari had stumbled to his mother and grandfather. All civilians could only stare at the devastation the battle had wrought. They also might be replaying the awesomeness of it all constantly. Sasuke knew he would do it.

And man, that genjutsu of Sakura had been pure, incredible awesome. To cover an area in chakra like that and use it to decimate a far superior force, brilliant. It would also allow you to escape a pursuing force. Though, the safety it provided against enemies outside its range was rather... limited.

Actually if you were fighting inside an enemy outside could still see you perfectly clear. If you assumed he had been trapped...

Well, he didn't know enough about the jutsu to make any judgments on stuff like that.

He grinned at the knocked out Sakura. He looked forward to fighting her. That battle should be fun. Or maybe not, after all her genjutsu wouldn't work against the sharingan.

"Well, let's go to bed shall we? I want to be well rested for tomorrow." Sasuke grinned at the people surrounding him. Today had been a rather good day.

-o-

Kakashi had brought Zabuza back to their room and told him to get some rest. Which Zabuza had promptly done. He knew, that if he wanted any chance to escape them... well he better get better and fast.

Kakashi banished the missing nin form his mind and considered the skill level of his students.

Sakura's genjutsu had so many frightening applications, especially in combination with her other skills. Set the trap, lure an enemy force into it and rip them apart with the high speed jutsu.

Use it to assassinate somebody utterly unseen, throw the genjutsu, use its cover to jump in and out without anybody noticing.

Bah, no use thinking about it. He would attempt to learn it, just like her other jutsu. Though he already worried about whether he could or not.

He suspected the level of fine control needed to actually pull them off, would be beyond him.

Oh, they also had to consider the fact that two of their number were now out of commission for at least a few days.

Well, one of their number. Kakashi had no doubt that Naruto would bounce right back and the only thing his broken jaw would hinder...

A wide grin spread over Kakashi's face. No stupid comments from Naruto!

The grin left his face. Only rude and crass ones from Sakura.

He hung his head. He just couldn't win could he?

Whatever, Gato. If Sakura said the truth, then Zabuza had just earned some points in his favor... some small ones. And he did know secrets of mist. If he talked, well Konoha might find it useful to let him live.

And if they knew where Gato hid himself, they could move in, kill him and be done with this job. The faster they got back the better. Less chance of Zabuza escaping and Kakashi could talk to the Hokage about his charges.

He looked forward to that talk. He would have to remember his camera.

-o-

Naruto sat up and looked around. Glad that the pain Sakura had unleashed on him didn't follow him into his mindscape.

Ok, he had visited a lot of that pain on himself, but the idea had merit! He would have to work on it. He grinned evilly. Maybe he could use it in the chunin exams? Man, he couldn't wait to see Neji's face if he used it on him!

And if he refined it some more and actually focused its power on a thin layer around him, instead as a sphere with him as the focus. Its damage would actually be a lot higher than it had been.

Sakura shouldn't have gotten up, much less attack him, after she had been hit by that.

If he hadn't had his regeneration he wouldn't have gotten up again.

But that reminded him, he would have to talk to the fox. He had tamed him once. But... well the control he had managed to attain had been a little bit shaky.

He walked through the sewers. The fox though... he acted a little bit different than he remembered. Sure, he had taken the opportunity for freedom, or at least survival, with whatever Sasuke pulled. But after he arrived here... he had been a lot more hostile than Naruto thought he would be.

They had reached something of a rapport after all.

A minor one, true. But they had.

He stopped in front of the cage and glared inside.

"Hey fox, time to talk." He shouted.

"Kuhkuhku." The fox rumbled back. "So you think you can control me do you insect?" It spat.

Naruto grinned. So it thought because he hadn't been to the Waterfall of Truth here, it could push him around again?

He pulled at its chakra and immediately felt it healing his body. None of the foxes will came with it.

"Yes?" Naruto asked the flabbergasted fox calmly.

"Buh... guh... How?" The fox asked, as close to a panic as Naruto had ever seen him.

"The Falls of Truth, duh. Sure I haven't been there in this body, but damn, even you should have realized it's mostly a mental effect." Naruto loved mocking the fox, he had preciously little opportunities.

"Falls of Truth?" The fox grumbled confused.

Naruto blinked. Didn't the fox come with him?

"Yes, the Falls of Truth... or something like that at least, don't you remem..."

He grinned even wider. "Oh, I see. Say, did you have to share the cell maybe? With another fox demon?" He asked innocently.

The fox growled, but didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes. And I also take the lack of other foxes to mean you killed him." Naruto continued blithely.

Another growl was the only answer he got.

"And you probably didn't even talk. Too bad. That means I have to tame you again."

And wow, did that last part induce a rage.

The fox threw himself against the seal, he growled, spit raged and cursed.

Naruto laughed as he walked away. This new fox, he promised to be very, very entertaining.

-o-

And a new chapter of fragments. Enjoy.


	6. Assault

Fragments

-o-

Assault

-o-

Sakura slowly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.

She hurt all over, the battle had taken a lot out of her. However, while she had been hurt rather badly, she could still consider it a win. After all, the pain she felt currently didn't even compare to the constant ache she felt back in her old body.

There were drawbacks to everything and her high-speed technique did quite a number on your body, even reinforced with chakra. You just couldn't push the human body that far without a price. Overuse weakened the bones, tore apart muscles and sinews and generally left you a wreck. Now if you didn't overdo it the body could heal that damage in a few weeks and it wouldn't lead to any lasting problems.

Of course, she hadn't given her body time to heal back then, she couldn't afford to.

She couldn't afford to just recover from broken ribs then either actually. She moved her hand up to her ribs and winced at the pain that shot through her torso.

Yeah, definitely broken. However... she wouldn't have to reinforce her bones with chakra and move around... she could actually just stay here, nuzzle her booze... she groped around for one of her scrolls, since she wore her nightwear somebody had to change her out of her old clothes, which meant she might not have access to her alcohol...

Her groping sped up slightly. If those bastards had thrown it out again, just after she managed to secure a small stash from Tazuna...

But her hand hit a bottle beside her bed and she quickly sat up, ignoring the pain shooting through her chest. A bit of chakra fixed that anyway and now, that the alcohol shot through her blood, filtered almost unconsciously by her chakra, she could feel the shakes die down already.

She sighed contently, this could be nice...

She frowned at the bottle. The civilians probably wouldn't have thought to place it there. Which left only her teammates, who could have put it beside her bed.

She suppressed any tears that might come. Damn them. She wouldn't fall for that, who the hell did they think she was? Some weak little twit that would fall for the first bit of kindness? Or the tenth or twentieth...

She shuddered and sank back under the blanket, the bottle almost half empty. Her breathing came heavy and fast and she did her best to suppress the tears she could feel coming. She wouldn't cry, she hadn't since she came here, she wouldn't start now.

Still, suppressing them had become harder and harder lately. Mostly when the boys had been nice to her. Hell even when they took away her alcohol she wanted to cry. She got why they did it. They said it often enough after all. They worried about her... they worried about her!

She drained the bottle and didn't filter the alcohol out of her system this time.

It hit her hard, much harder than she expected, but with the way she filtered the alcohol her body hadn't really grown used to it. Giggling weakly she curled up. Why did they have to be so nice to her. She pushed and pushed at them and sometimes she could see their irritation spike.

But always they pushed it down, let her get away with it, gave her those pitying looks. She could feel a tear running down her face. Why couldn't they let her hate them? Why did they have to remind her of the time before? She couldn't, wouldn't...

More tears had joined the first and Sakura sobbed quietly into her pillow. She didn't even register the pain in her chest anymore.

Somebody opened the door, but Sakura couldn't stop anymore, she had shut her emotions out for so long, letting only her desires and her anger loose, never her sadness, never her hurt. She had put them away, locked them up and threw the key away, or at least she had assumed she did it.

But now? Naruto, Sasuke, Ino and Kakashi... they somehow broke down the walls around them and pulled them out, together with other emotions she had long thought dead.

"Go away." She slurred, keeping her back to the door. She didn't know who had come in, and she didn't care. If possible nobody should see her in this state.

Whimpering she buried her face in the pillow, hopefully muffling her sobs. She had tried to keep them away, she knew her behavior should have turned them off of helping her...

A body fell down beside her. Too light to be Kakashi or another adult. Too heavy to be the kid. Which left only three people and somehow she doubted that Haku would dare come close to her.

Naruto would probably keep his distance as well, not that he feared her, but he just didn't want to risk... she didn't know.

"Haku made a salve for your ribs." Sasuke said quietly. Sakura could hear him set a pot of something down beside her.

"I said go away." She tried to growl, but the alcohol and her own sobs didn't exactly help.

"It helps, crying." Sasuke said after a moment of silence. "I've cried a few times... about totally unimportant stuff, but..." She felt a hand on her shoulder. She should snap at it, rip it off and throw it into his face. But Sasuke... this Sasuke, he just... it would feel wrong to hit him.

He had this aura of innocence, an aura Sakura found at the same time disgusting and infinitely appealing. She hated it and wanted it at the same time.

"Hate you." She muttered into her pillow. Why couldn't she stop crying? She couldn't afford to be this vulnerable. She had to be strong.

His hand hesitated for a moment, then pulled her around, to face him.

He looked at her, a small, sad smile on his face. And yeah, that look full of pity again. But hell, she pitied herself as well, why shouldn't he? Carefully he pulled her into a hug. For once she didn't resist. She just cried into his shoulder, cried for everything she had lost, everything she had seen. Everything she could lose again.

After a while, she didn't know how long her tears finally, finally stopped. Shuddering she pushed him away again. He had stayed silent the entire time, just rubbing her back, offering her a shoulder to cry on.

"I still hate you." She muttered, looking away from him.

He sighed, but didn't say anything himself.

"And... I don't want to trust you..." She felt more tears coming, but bit them down hard. "But, You bastard... you're worming your way back into my trust. You somehow manage to..." She shuddered as she fell back into her bed, staring at the ceiling again.

"Heh, I've been told I'm good at that." Sasuke chuckled, she bet he enjoyed that reputation. "And well, you always were so jealous, when I flirted with other girls, whether on missions or whenever else." She glanced at him, he looked out of a window.

"I think I enjoyed it, having you beat on me and dragging me away from the other girls." He laughed. "Marking your territory Naruto called it. You always punched him out when he said that. You laughed more..."

She could see his profile, his features had fallen as he thought of better times.

"I'm not her and I can't ever be her." She whispered, almost sadly. She wished she could be though, it sounded nice.

"Yes." He laid back and stared at the ceiling. "I think I get that now... whatever happened back then. My Sakura, my Naruto... they... they are dead." He took a deep shuddering breath.

"You two... you aren't them, you can't replace them. I..." She could see tears falling down his face now. "I... I still... can't..."

Sakura bit down on her chuckle, he didn't need to hear it. And she honestly didn't find it funny. But damn, here he comforted her and all she could do was stare at him, she hated herself.

He took a deep breath. "They are gone. I have to accept that. I have to accept that I'll never see my family again, that I'll never see my friends again. At least I can be fairly sure that some survived I guess, that they'll mourn me and you. That they will have some more happiness in life." He smiled now, even while cried.

Damn, how sappy. She wished she could feel that way.

"And," He continued. "I won't give up. I won't let this beat me. Sure I lost all I had, maybe even more. And this isn't what I lost. As I said, you aren't my lover."

She choked at that, and the bastard smirked.

"Maybe you'll never be."

"Yeah, I don't think I could ever be that. Not anymore." She nodded, but without venom.

He sighed. "But maybe... maybe we can be friends again. Or for the first time."

She stared at him, as he lay beside her, eyes fixed on the ceiling, tears still falling from his eyes. Still so damn innocent, even with the realization that all he loved, he most likely had left behind on a different world.

"Maybe." She whispered. She still hated them, but they were just so good at worming their way past her defenses. "I'm still going to beat the shit out of you." She added though. No way would she give that up. It had felt way to good to rip into Naruto. To work out all her frustrations with him. His death had denied her that opportunity. And now she had another. Sure, not with the one she really wanted to beat, but Naruto, this Naruto, had provided a decent enough substitute.

Sasuke laughed easily. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Hell, you gave me more than enough reasons to want to beat you into a bloody pulp, believe me." He grinned wildly at her.

"Let's just wait until you are healed up ok? Wouldn't be any fun otherwise." He added.

Sakura nodded, watching him as he pushed himself up and walked out of the room. She looked at the salve beside her. "So I just rub this over my chest and it'll will help heal the bones?" She asked him.

Sasuke shrugged. "That's what Haku said." He watched her from the door. "Want me to help apply it?" He grinned lecherously at her.

She didn't laugh at the little pervert, she wouldn't laugh at him. Even if she wanted to. She narrowed her eyes, then smirked. "You? Don't make me laugh. But hey, send Haku in. I'm sure he'll do a very good job of it. And he's just so pretty." She sighed dreamily. Take that bastard.

Sasuke looked at her for a few seconds, then grinned widely. "Well, if you are sure." Quickly he left the room, but he didn't close the door.

"Haku! Get up here!" He shouted down the stairs.

Hmm did he actually think she bluffed about letting Haku rub the salve all over her chest. She looked down. Not as if she had anything that would interest the boy, sadly.

She could hear somebody walk up the stairs, but only just. Haku moved with infinite grace after all.

"She wants you to apply the salve." She could hear Sasuke say from outside the room.

"Uhh... what?" Haku asked back. "But... she's... well..." He stammered back.

"Hey, if it makes her happy, I don't question it." Sasuke answered.

"Wouldn't she be uncomfortable having somebody... err..." Man, Haku apparently was even more innocent than Sasuke... actually she suspected that the only field Sasuke had no innocent left whatsoever involved sex. Huh, and here she always though he was Asexual, go figure.

"Come in already, this salve doesn't apply itself." Sakura growled as she lifted her shirt above her head.

Haku meekly entered the room, Sasuke's head also popped in, got a good look and disappeared again, as soon as he noticed her glare.

"Lucky bastard." He muttered as he retreated, but he did close the door behind him.

Haku for his part stood in the room like a deer in front of the fire jutsu... hmm roasted deer.

"Uh... I..." Aww, Haku looked so cute when his entire face lit up red and he stammered helplessly. Pity she only had a twelve year old body, she could imagine so many fun things to do with him if she were older.

"Oh get over it. You know how to apply this best right?" She waved him over.

"You shouldn't move like that." He admonished her, focusing on the pot of salve beside her.

She leered at him, even though he couldn't see it. She never knew this could be so much fun. She didn't even have to do anything to mess with him. Just let him apply the salve to her chest.

He turned around, his entire face red, as he looked at her chest and immediately away again. His hand made its way shakily and when it actually touched her she barely felt it.

She smirked as she grabbed the hand and forced it into real contact with her body. "It won't do me any good if nothing of the salve actually gets on me now does it?" She asked him innocently.

Oh he was just so much fun to tease. They just had to keep him.

Haku gulped and applied more pressure. "I suppose."

Sakura made herself comfortable on the bed. When did she get a massage the last time anyway? She couldn't remember. This would be nice and funnily enough she trusted Haku more than Sasuke and Naruto, at least for the moment.

What the future would bring? Well, she didn't know that, but maybe, just maybe it would be better.

Haku's hands felt good... so relaxing... slowly she felt herself drift off to sleep again.

-o-

Sasuke leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

That conversation had been draining. Very, very draining. And he really didn't like the conclusions he came to. He had lost his friends, the Kyuubi had tricked him, well or not. After all he still had a life, which meant he still could honor his friends by making the best of it. And Naruto at least kinda felt like his Naruto. And even though he wasn't his Naruto he already had build a friendship with him.

And after this talk with Sakura... things were looking up on that front as well. Even if she didn't now, or ever, consider him anything more than a friend. It would have to be enough. Besides he doubted he could consider her anything more either. She had it right when she said she wasn't his Sakura.

She had lost too much, suffered too greatly for them to connect on that level.

Slowly he pushed himself up again. From inside he could hear Haku stammering. He smirked. Lucky bastard indeed. Or maybe not, who could say for sure?

He made his way downstairs slowly. Naruto sat on the table longingly looking at a cold bowl of ramen. His jaw however hadn't healed yet and so he was forced to eat through a straw, which meant no ramen for him. Sasuke sniggered at the pitiful look on Naruto's face.

"Don't worry, in a few days you'll be alright again, if what Haku said about the salve is true." Sasuke said easily.

Naruto glared impotently at him, then looked upstairs.

Sasuke smiled softly. "We had a talk." He said, sitting down on the table. Naruto pointed at his eyes.

"Yes, I kinda cried. She did too." Sasuke answered the question. He looked at his friend. "I think, this might have been a rather major breakthrough. She didn't resist me hugging her at all. Cried on my shoulder even."

Naruto's eyes widened and if his jaw hadn't been heavily bandaged Sasuke bet it would be on the floor right about now.

"I'm very, very persuasive." He shrugged modestly.

"Ah you two are here, good." Kakashi said cheerfully as he entered the kitchen. He looked around, to see if anybody else could be found, but the civilians busied themselves elsewhere. Tazuna hadn't gone to the bridge yet. Kakashi had said it would be easier to protect him if he stayed in the building, at least until they had taken care of Gato.

Still he, like Tsunami and Inari avoided the ninja after yesterdays display of... well brutality Sasuke supposed. For civilians that must have been rather disconcerting.

"I've talked with Zabuza some more. He gave me a description to Gato's hideout." Kakashi said, practically beaming. "I'm going to go and take him out. Sasuke, while Naruto and Sakura are recovering I want you to guard Tazuna and them. Make sure Haku and Zabuza don't cause any trouble and defend them against any other threat Gato might send out."

Naruto glared at Kakashi indignantly. The bandage over his jaw ruined the look however.

"Sorry Naruto, but I know you aren't quite up to your usual stunts yet." Kakashi waved him off. "Sasuke is the only one fully healed, he' the one doing the fighting. Unless it looks as if he's overwhelmed of course, then you can interfere." He looked around curiously. "By the way, where's Haku?"

Sasuke whistled innocently.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi sighed.

"I gave him to Sakura, she's playing with him now." He grinned at the other two.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Playing with him... how?" He asked carefully.

Sasuke shrugged. "Eh, she's making him apply the salve to her, nothing more. It will be a learning experience for him."

Naruto's eyes twitched... and his bandages turned red.

"Wow, I didn't think Naruto was still a virgin." Sasuke shook his head sadly. Naruto was still so young.

Naruto's head slowly, ever so slowly turned to him. His eyes were open wide and stared at Sasuke in total disbelief.

"I'm going on patrol." Sasuke said, pushed his chair back and walked out of the room, whistling loudly. Nothing got you over a pouring out your emotions like bragging to friends.

-o-

Kakashi jumped through the trees, carefully watching for any movement, however he hadn't come across any guards yet and even if he did, he doubted that Gato had anything on Zabuza's level ready so fast.

He probably still waited for word on what happened to Zabuza. After all it had only been a day since the fight. Zabuza had told Kakashi that the base he prepared in hadn't, actually, been Gato's main base. Just one of the many outposts Gato had strewn across Wave.

Still, there would probably be at least a hint on where to find the main base. And if Kakashi had a lot of luck Gato might just be there, waiting for Zabuza. In any case, Kakashi planned to get the location of Gato's main base of operations in Wave and if it happened to be close by raid it. If not, he would just hand the info over to Tazuna. Maybe he could do something with it.

A resurgent Wave indebted to Konoha would be a rather valuable asset to the village. Trade had become a rather important aspect of financing it after all. You simply couldn't keep a village the size of Konoha independent with mercenary work alone. And while Konoha did need the backing of the Fire Lord, should he decide to leave them hanging Konoha could survive for a time and probably adapt.

According to some rumors he heard, Sand hadn't been so lucky. With the support of their Lord withdrawn their situation had become rather critical.

He spotted the first guard, standing close to a ramp, leading up a tree. Kakashi smirked, good against civilians and maybe even some bandits. Against a Ninja? Utterly useless.

Anyway, you couldn't believe every rumor you heard. For all Kakashi knew the rumor had been created by Sand in order to appear weaker than they were. In which case Konoha would have to be careful, since it would mean they planed something. Actually Konoha would have to be careful regardless. A wounded opponent was dangerous too.

He could see the wooden building hanging in the trees now. Curiously well hidden for such a building, especially considering the rather obvious entry on the ground. Kakashi shook his head exasperated. They thought about hiding the building itself, but forgot to hide the entrance, typical.

He made his way along the walls, soundlessly moving to one of the windows. Listening for any sound, to make sure nobody could spot him if he entered jumped in.

He found himself in a small bedroom, maybe for guests or guards. He didn't know and he didn't care. Zabuza couldn't give him a floor plan. He hadn't bothered to scout the place. If things had gone sour he would have just escaped through the window or not even bothered with that and just made his own exit. That ridiculous sword of his would have had no problem with the walls after all.

Hmm, well if you didn't know the way, you ask for directions. Now, if I were a helpful citizen where would I be?

Kakashi walked over to the door, leading out of the room, opened it, grabbed whoever walked past it and dragged him into the room. At the same time he closed the door again and held a hand over the guys mouth.

Kakashi grinned, good ears were just so useful for any ninja, just like a good nose and sense of touch. Eyes were just a given.

"If you scream you die." Kakashi whispered to his captive, who whimpered quietly in his hands.

Kakashi looked his catch over, warm comfortable clothes, soft hands, pale skin, glasses and several papers clutched to his chest. Humming he grabbed one from the stack and had a quick look over it. Kakashi couldn't help but smile. He had landed a big one, an accountant.

"So, you might just live to tell your children of the time you were captured by that ninja and survived." Kakashi grinned at the man. Not that he could see the grin. Not with closed eyes, shaking like a leaf and turned away from Kakashi.

"If you remain quiet of course." Kakashi added. "Nod once if you won't cause trouble. Nod twice if you will cause trouble and nod a whole lot if you are so scarred you couldn't even think of making trouble."

The head bobbed up and down rapidly, Kakashi actually had a bit of trouble holding his hand over the mouth.

"Good, I'll remove my hand now. Don't scream remember?" He whispered and slowly removed the hand, only to place it on the unfortunate guys throat. No sense in risking stupid moves after all.

He could feel the man gulp fearfully.

"Wh...wha...what...d...d..d...do you want?" He stuttered close to panic.

"Where is Gato?" Kakashi asked calmly. He suspected that if an accountant stalked these halls, hunting for more money to press out of Wave, then Gato would also be here. Or at least show up on occasion.

"Ga...Ga...Gato?" The man asked, still trembling.

"Yes Gato, you see, I've been hired to protect somebody from him and the easiest way to do that is to kill Gato. I'm afraid you'll have to look for..."

But the trembling man in his hands suddenly stopped trembling and even though Kakashi couldn't see it he could imaging the evil grin on the suddenly calm man.

"He's three levels above us in his study, I can bring you there." He said, his voice suddenly full of satisfaction.

Kakashi blinked, apparently Gato didn't inspire too much locality in his employees.

"Hmm... can I ask why you want to kill him?" He asked as he eyed the ceiling. He listened carefully, but he couldn't hear anybody above him.

"He's a bastard and an idiot." The man hissed. "Do you have any idea what he did to Wave? He became rich destroying it. Now that he controls it though, he keeps it down, crushes the people, and takes what little money they have."

"You disagree?" Kakashi asked as he moved around the room, knocking on the ceiling every so often. He doubted he would have to keep threatening the man.

"Of course I disagree. Do you have any idea just how much money we lose thanks to him ruining this country? Never mind the moral problems with it. We could make so much more if the country just had some money to spend. But Gato just wants control, he doesn't care that he hurts himself gaining it. He's such a shortsighted, stupid, vindictive..." Kakashi tuned out the hissed tirade, nothing of value seemed to be said at the moment.

"Hmm I see." He muttered. And punched through the ceiling, creating a small hole he quickly expanded.

He noticed that the accountant had stopped his rambling.

"I take it Gato isn't the best boss?" Kakashi smiled at the gaping man.

"Not the best boss? He's underpaying everybody! The thugs he's hired are just too stupid to realize it. But they keep the rest of us in line. We can't back out now, he'll just send his thugs to kill us if we try to leave." The man shook with rage, forgetting his astonishment at Kakashi's shortcut.

Kakashi shook his head. He had no idea how Gato became as powerful as he did with that attitude. Somehow it failed to instill loyalty in his employees. Kakashi had no idea why it failed though.

He grabbed the man and hauled him through the hole he just created, then he followed.

"My, this is faster than taking the stairs." The accountant muttered to himself.

Kakashi nodded, checking the next ceiling. Two more and he would be on Gato's level. This room seemed to be used for storage, judging by the dust it had gathered.

"Careful, the next level houses his thugs while he's here." His captive... or ally, Kakashi wasn't entire sure yet, whispered.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, above him he could hear soft snoring. Nothing to worry about if he acted fast. A few soft knocks told him where the ceiling didn't have anything standing on it and a quick punch created a nice hole, some pulling widened it enough for Kakashi to jump through. The thug in the bed stared at the ninja in a sleepy stupor. Not for long though, as a kunai in his throat silenced him.

Behind Kakashi another thug fell back into his bed as well. A kunai had embedded itself in his eye.

Kakashi jumped back down and pulled the accountant up with him. The man hadn't even tried to run, though whether that was because he didn't have the time, or because he didn't want to Kakashi didn't know.

As the man saw the corpses in the beds he gave a strangled squeak.

"Having second thoughts?" Kakashi asked calmly.

The man shook his head. "No, just... this is my first corpse." He stood there, shaking violently, looking very, very green as he looked from one corpse to the other.

Kakashi took his face and made the man look at him, instead of the dead bodies. "You worked for Gato didn't you? I would have thought you saw this fairly regularly." He said.

"I try to stay in my office." The man said, slowly regaining control.

"Smart I suppose." Kakashi muttered. "What's above us?"

"Nothing. Up there are Gato's private rooms. Nobody's allowed in there but Gato. The only thing we are allowed to see is his office." Kakashi nodded as he once again knocked on the ceiling. He hadn't heard anybody up there, but he still didn't want a bed to fall on him.

"Does he have any guards with him?" Kakashi asked while he worked.

"Yes, he had two favorites... I actually think he pays them well." His captive said... maybe Kakashi should ask for his name? Eh, why bother?

"They are better than the rest?" He asked.

"Uhh I don't know. I don't know anything about fighting." Came the answer. "But I think they are just a bit more vicious than the rest of them."

"Heh good. Shouldn't be much of a problem then." Kakashi said as he punched through the last part of the ceiling. Quickly he had the both of them up there as well.

"Hey! What the hell?" Somebody from three floors down shouted up to them. Kakashi looked through his hole. Luckily nobody could see all the way up, so they just had to hurry a bit.

He looked around the room, expensive furniture, tastefully arranged. Say what you wanted about his methods, Gato knew how to decorate a room. "Where to now?" He asked his guide.

"I don't know! I've never been here before! But his office is in that direction... if he's there and not somewhere else in his rooms. These are pretty big you know?"

Kakashi nodded as he walked to the door. He couldn't hear anybody behind it, so he opened it. Just another empty room. Similar furniture, but nothing of interest. He signaled his guide to follow and hurried on. He could hear more shouting from below now. Faintly, but it wouldn't take long now till somebody connected the dots and made this a bit harder than it had to.

Kakashi didn't exactly want to start a slaughter, cleaning up would be such a bother.

So he hurried on, through the rooms, but it became apparent fast that he would have to walk around the entire floor to reach Gato this way. He sighed, the shouting had become pretty loud at this point. No more time it seemed.

"Step back." He order the man behind him and punched through the wall. Luckily they were rather thin, otherwise this might not have worked. He didn't have Zabuza's sword after all.

He quickly made his way through, nodded at the girl staring at him from a bed he passed by and ignored the terrified scream from her.

"Always knew she wasn't a real secretary." His guide muttered behind him, but Kakashi ignored it, he could hear panicked screaming a few wall over as well and this came from a male. He grinned as he pulled his Hita-ate free from his eye, revealing his sharingan. This would be over faster than they could react. He broke down another wall and came face to face with around ten guards, arrayed around a short guy screaming orders and obscenities at them.

"Get the fucking bastard who's..." He trailed off, as he realized that he had been caught.

"Kill him!" Gato shouted almost immediately. Kakashi chuckled as he charged into the men. Chidori crackling in his fist. Gato died before any of the men could even react.

A fist through your chest would do that. With a careless flick of his fist Kakashi shook the corpse free and pulled out several kunai.

The fight hadn't even started before it ended.

Kakashi stood surrounded by eleven corpses only five seconds later. They hadn't even drawn their weapons.

"Urgh." His guide stood in a corner emptying his stomach.

"Killing somebody isn't pretty." Kakashi shrugged. "But you get used to it after a while... I should show you one of my students, she's great. I think she would have enjoyed this." Kakashi grinned at the man. Sure, he apparently hadn't been here willingly. But still, he had been here.

"Oh god, you ninja..." The man muttered. More screaming could be heard from downstairs.

"Tell you what." Kakashi said to him. "You tell me where Gato keeps his money or other valuables and I take you out of here. It would be rather hard to explain what you are doing here right?"

The man pointedly didn't look at the corpses, but he nodded nevertheless. "I think he has a safe here somewhere. But again I don't know where. And I don't have the combination or the keys anyway."

Kakashi glanced around the room. He walked over to the desk and searched it quickly. There had been a few very interesting documents, nothing of immediate value, but some of those business partners of his would be of interest to Konoha. He growled, especially those selling drugs and other less than legal objects to the man.

"I think I know where the safe is... or at least somebody who knows it." Kakashi pulled the man after him, as he backtracked to the bedroom they had come across.

The woman was still there, this time she actually wore clothes however.

She stared at Kakashi, before a small whimper escaped her throat. Not surprisingly, since blood covered him from head to toe. He grinned winningly at her, which only served to make her more nervous.

"Gato's dead." He opened the conversation. "Tell me where he keeps his safe." Her eyes widened even more, but she still managed to shakily point at a spot on the wall.

Whistling Kakashi walked over, he could hear shouting from the direction of Gato's office, however nobody seemed inclined to follow whoever slaughtered all those people.

Kakashi grinned happily, that was one advantage of leaving so many corpses, the next in line wouldn't want to be the next in line.

He punched the wall and his fist ripped through the wood of the hidden door. Sure he could have found another way to open it, but this had just been so much faster. Behind the door stood a steel safe.

"You still need a key." His guide whispered. The woman nodded fearfully behind him.

"Luckily I have a key right here." Kakashi grinned at them and charged another chidori. He slammed it into the safe and the door crumbled beneath his hand. He stopped himself from wincing. That had been rather painful. Next time, just take the entire safe.

He ripped the door off its hinges and looked into the safe, some money, but mostly just paper, maybe contracts? He pulled some out and glanced over them. Yeah, contracts some bank-accounts, bla, bla, he didn't have the time to go over them. Better to just grab it all and sort it out later.

"Well, I have everything I came for. Let's go." He grabbed his guide and turned to leave.

"Wait!" The woman stopped him.

"Hmm?" he turned around questioningly.

"Take me with you! I don't want to know what those thugs of Gato will do to me." She looked pleadingly at him.

Kakashi shrugged. Not as if one more passenger would be much of a problem. "Sure, just follow me."

"There's another exit somewhere around..." The woman started, but shut up after Kakashi reduced one wall to rubble with a few quick punches.

"Monster..." He heard her whisper and grinned. Ahh, civilians so easy to impress, or terrify.

"You coming?" He asked her grinning. He wondered what the poor girl would do if she met Sakura.

"We are wasting time." The accountant jumped into the conversation, glaring at the girl.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. The thugs hadn't even dared leave the office yet. After the noise Kakashi made to break down the wall they had even moved back down. Smart really.

The woman nodded and followed Kakashi through the hole. A few walls later and they faced a rather steep drop onto the forest floor.

"And now?" The woman glared at the accountant, wisely not at Kakashi he noted amused.

"Oh, now comes the fun part." Kakashi shrugged, grabbed both of them and jumped. The panicked screams that followed were music to his ears. Always so damn amusing doing this.

Though the screams got old fast, why did he keep doing it? Eh, no matter within a few minutes he had reached solid ground a few kilometers away from the base.

His passengers fell to the ground, not moving at all. He shrugged lazily.

"Wave is in that direction, if you start walking now you'll reach it in a day or two. There's more than enough water in the woods and no dangerous animals that I'm aware of." He waved at them and disappeared quickly back into the woods.

"What?" He heard the female scream after him, but he ignored it. He got them out of immediate danger and he didn't feel obliged to do any more. They had worked for Gato after all.

And now he could return to Tazuna, hand over whatever money he felt like and return to Konoha with a nice little bonus for his team. Once there he could offload Zabuza and Haku, maybe his team as well, though hopefully not to Ibiki and have a nice rest. Today had turned out to be a rather good day all in all.

-o-

Naruto grinned as he returned into the kitchen, he had gone out, to a secluded part of the forest and pulled out some of the Kyuubi's power, instant healed jaw no jutsu.

Having to stay silent sucked, he had so much he wanted the world to know. And with the way thing went they hadn't be able to teach Inari about heroes. He still had to do that, just how? If Kakashi came back successful it could be easier and harder to archive that. He sighed, this would be so much easier if he could just go and beat some people up. It always was easier to beat people up and make them realize their errors that way than to talk to people. He somehow never found the right words outside of combat.

He looked up as Haku came down the stairs, a strange contemplative expression on his face. And a blush, a very pronounced blush.

"What did she force you to do? Nothing too bad I hope?" Naruto asked the poor boy.

Haku ripped his head up and stared at Naruto, then blinked and focused on Naruto's jaw. "How?" He asked in confusion.

"The Kyuubi. It's a bit dangerous and rather unpleasant, but I can instantly regenerate the worst wounds, as long as I'm not dead that is." He winked at Haku. "So, how is she anyway. I couldn't check yet."

Haku coughed, his blush springing up full force. "A hand full." He muttered.

"Oh I would say she's a bit bigger than that... wait, she had broken ribs and she... damn, now I'm jealous." Naruto hung his head. Haku got to touch Sakura before him... well he got to touch kiddy Sakura. And somehow Naruto didn't mind all that much anymore.

"Wha? No I didn't mean, she forced me and she fell asleep almost as soon as I started and nothing happened and I only did as much as..." Naruto laughed at the flustered boy. Geez, how innocent could one boy be? Not that Naruto would have reacted differently he supposed. But still, Haku was a few years older, shouldn't he be interested in stuff like that?

"No need to be embarrassed, it's no big deal. I'm pretty sure Sakura just did it to get a rise out of you." She better have, because everything else would just be disturbing.

"I... yes, I think that was all it was. Can I see Zabuza now?" Haku quickly changed the subject.

Naruto looked at the boy then nodded. "Suppose you should use your salve on him as well. Haku nodded happily.

"By the way." Naruto said blandly. "If I use the Kyuubi like that, to burn through mayor injuries, it also burns away any poisons."

Haku stiffened almost immediately. "Just to let you know. I did feel a bit lethargic this morning, just after I used your salve."

"It just makes you fall asleep." Haku muttered.

"I know, you wouldn't kill us if you didn't need to. But you wouldn't have gotten past Sasuke anyway." Naruto shrugged as he walked up the stairs with Haku. "And I really don't mind that you put Sakura back into her bed. I bet she moved around like crazy already." He sighed in exasperation. Though mostly to hide the fact that he would be running around like that again by this point.

"Yes." Haku said a tentative smile on his lips.

"You are going to use that salve on Zabuza as well." Naruto noted, Haku shot him a look but nodded nevertheless.

"It's just easier that way. Lessens the risk of Zabuza doing something stupid as well."

"You have the sharingan for that." Haku muttered.

Naruto watched him lazily. "I know you won't try to poison us fatally, but if we force you to use the salve on Zabuza as well, we remove the last chance of temptation."

Haku looked at him strangely, but nodded anyway. "I suppose."

They entered Zabuza's room and Naruto watched the man rest on his futon. He didn't move much, but the little twitches told Naruto all he needed to know. Zabuza had already begun to regain some of his strength. Much more than he let on. He grinned, after only a day though even that much wouldn't be enough to do much more than flop around uselessly.

"Hello Zabuza, your student is here with your medicine." Naruto greeted the man. He hadn't seen him since yesterday but he noted that the man looked at him very, very warily.

"Hello brat. Haku." Zabuza nodded to them, as politely as he could. Which wasn't very.

Haku quickly stepped up and began applying the salve on Zabuza's naked chest. Naruto kept a carefully eye on them, but Haku didn't try anything, so Naruto didn't interfere. After a few minutes Zabuza's breathing had relaxed and he had drifted off into sleep.

Haku continued with his ministrations, but after a while he had finished with his mentor.

"Hey Haku, wanna come and talk to Inari?" Naruto asked watching the other boy pack up his supplies.

"Huh? Why? I thought you would make the Uchiha put me to sleep again." Haku wondered.

"I like you. I don't think getting you into Leaf will be easy, but I'll try. I kinda have a bit of pull with the Hokage and if I asked I'm sure he could get you in somehow." Naruto grinned at the confused boy.

"Why though? Why would you want me to join Konoha?" Haku asked, almost desperately trying to understand.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "You mean beside the fact that you would be a very valuable asset? And I'm not just talking about your bloodline. If we can get you to be loyal to Konoha." Naruto grinned at him. He could see by the look of understanding that crossed over Haku's face that Haku understood that reason.

"So Zabuza-sama will be the chain that binds me to Konoha?" He asked Naruto.

Naruto looked back at him, he actually had planned to mention himself wanting to be Haku's friend, but Haku had touched on a rather important little detail.

"I don't know." Naruto answered honestly. "I don't like him much. I mean I know he likes you. Maybe even loves you."

Haku's eyes widened. "He doesn't, I'm just a tool..." He began, but Naruto held a hand over his mouth.

"No, to him you are much more than just a tool, no matter what he wants to believe. Never ever think of yourself as just a tool Haku. You are a human." Naruto pulled out a kunai. "This is a tool. It's cheap, it can be replaced easily." He tapped Haku in the chest. "You can't be replaced, ever. There might be people like you, kinda. But there are no people that are you. That can take your place in Zabuza's heart."

Good thing Sakura couldn't hear this. She would ruin it with some sort of snark Naruto just knew it.

Haku looked down, hiding his eyes from view. "No, I'm just." He began, before Naruto forced him to be quiet again. "And, if you let me I would like to be your friend as well. Sasuke too." He frowned slightly. "Hell, maybe even Sakura. Though I think she would play a bit rough for you."

"We are working on that however. And hopefully she'll be better soon." Naruto lifted Haku's chin and forced him to look him into Naruto's eyes. "Friends?" He asked.

Haku tried to look away, but Naruto didn't relent.

"I... this..." Haku stuttered.

Naruto let go and shrugged. "Too early? I suppose so, can't exactly go around calling somebody friend you don't know can you?"

"I would like to though." Haku whispered, causing a grin that almost split his face onto Naruto's lips.

"We can work on that. And hey, I'll do my damnest to make sure Zabuza is all right ok?" Haku looked at him in wonder. "I might not like him much, he's done some rather horrible things I'm sure of it. And I can't promise anything, I don't have that much pull." And maybe even less, if the talk with the Hokage went badly. "But, I'll try." He grinned at Haku, who smiled back carefully.

"You don't mind me trying to..." Haku asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hey, you were just trying to protect Zabuza, can't blame you for that can I? And you didn't try to kill us, just put us to sleep. Makes it even less bad eh?"

Haku nodded slowly.

"Hmm I wonder what Kakashi's doing?" Naruto wondered loudly. Somehow they had run out of conversational material.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon." Haku said, trying to comfort him.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried about him, he's a big boy, he can take care of himself. I'm just wondering." Haku raised an eyebrow.

"Really I'm not." He glared at the boy. " He's not Zabuza, he doesn't need us to look after him."

Haku narrowed his own eyes. "What was that?" He asked dangerously.

Naruto couldn't help but grin at that. Here he was, trying to make friends with Haku and instead he picked a fight with him. But words were so damn complicated, fighting was so much easier!

Haku narrowed his eyes, then shook his head laughing. "You want me to fight you." He muttered. "Just like with Haruno yesterday."

Naruto shrugged. "Well obviously I would hold back more." He said.

Haku tried to glare at him, but he gave up after a few second. "Yes, I suppose you would at that... how can you be so strong?" He asked quietly.

"As I said, I've got the Kyuubi in me. Makes for quite the boost in power." He wouldn't mention the time traveling yet. No need for Haku to think he was insane. Yet. He would come to that conclusion soon enough after all.

"A jinchuriku. Zabuza mentioned people like you. He said you had awesome powers, but were generally disliked." Haku glanced at him, trying to see beneath his facade.

Naruto considered his answer, but decided quickly to go with the truth.

"That's about right. There are some who have overcome the fear and the hatred. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm well on my way." And hey, he had managed it once, doing it a second time? No problem at all. Konoha respected strength, as long as it came together with the will to protect.

Haku studied him for a while, then shook his head. "I don't understand you." He muttered finally.

Naruto grinned at him. "Few do, really."

-o-

Sasuke sat on the small pier surrounding the house, listening to the waves and the sounds of the house.

It was, relaxing, very relaxing and he liked it. Nothing to worry about, since even if some of Gato's thugs came by, they wouldn't be much of a problem. And if any more ninja like Zabuza were in Gato's pocket... well Sasuke doubted there were. Missing nin were expensive and hard to come by as well.

Somebody fell down beside him.

"Hello Inari." He greeted the boy without looking away from the waves.

The boy didn't answer, he simply watched the waves with Sasuke.

They sat like that for a while, neither saying a word. For once Sasuke didn't feel like talking, Sakura, his Sakura would have asked if he felt alright. Damn, he missed her.

"Why?" Inari finally said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked at the boy. "Why what?" He asked.

Inari shrugged. "Why are you so strong? If we had that strength, if we had it then Gato couldn't have pushed us like this. Then... then..." Tears fell on the water. Sasuke sighed, seemed today was day of the tears or something. What was it will all the crying today?

"If you had been this strong Gato would have chosen somebody else. And if he hadn't found somebody, he would have become strong enough to fight you. But really, there is no answer." Well, Sasuke had one, but he would rather not tell it to a kid like Inari. Anko had only told him because she was rather drunk and in one of her more depressed moods.

'There's always a loser, somebody's always paying the price, the only thing you can do is try and make sure it's not you.'

Sasuke had banished that thought as far as he could, but sometimes it haunted him.

"That's not fair." Inari sniffed. All Sasuke could do was nod.

"No, it isn't." He agreed. "But, life seldom is."

Inari glared at him. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

Sasuke shrugged, seemed to be pretty self evident. "What your grandfather did, go and get help. And if you have to cheat to do it? So what. As I said, life isn't fair, why should you be?" he winked at the boy.

Inari considered that. "But don't you hate being used like that?" He asked finally.

Sasuke watched the water some more, a small smile hidden on his lips. "We do yes. But why do you think we still agreed to protect your grandfather?" Well, the first time.

"Because he told you a sob story and you fell for it?" Inari accused him.

Sasuke laughed, from what Naruto had told him that came pretty close to the truth. "Probably yes, but if he had lied, do you think he would have gotten out of it in one piece?"

Inari slowly shook his head. "No, you would have... well..." He fell silent and shifted uncomfortably.

"Exactly, you have to be careful, who and what you cheat and for what reason. Your grandfather got away with it because he told us the truth, and because he choose us to protect him. Konoha does have a rather soft spot after all. And well, once the bridge is finished I expect Konoha will send somebody to collect the missing mission fees. But by then you'll be able to pay no problem."

Inari nodded slowly.

"If your land manages to regain its spirit that is." Sasuke added.

Inari looked at him confused. "What do you mean? Once the bridge is finished we'll have money again. And with Gato gone..."

Sasuke shook his head. "With Gato gone the way is open for another guy like him. If he can take control of the bridge in addition to getting control of the waterways you are no better off than with the bridge."

Inari glared at him. "Then why help us?" He shouted at Sasuke, showing some spirit at least.

Sasuke grinned easily at him. "So you have a chance to help yourself!" He replied. "If you can just regain that spirit, you can push any would be asshole away from your bridge before they can buy themselves the ninja support they need. And if they do manage to get that support? You know where to find us. Just never give up. Push and push some more."

Inari continued to glare at him. "But do it smartly. None of that, running headfirst into an ambush crap." Sasuke snorted in disgust. "Go and get some help from professionals if the enemy is too strong, hell go and get help from us if the enemy is just as strong as you are. You don't want to lose any lives now do you?"

Inari still looked at him with narrowed eyes, but he seemed to mull it over nevertheless.

"So, what can I do to make that spirit come back anyway? I'm just a boy." He muttered.

Sasuke ruffled his hair, until Inari pushed his hand away angrily. "Stop that!"

"You are just a boy, but how do you think the adults will feel if you go out there, to face people way stronger than you, but not stronger than the adults? Do you really think they'll let themselves be shown up by a little boy?" Sasuke grinned nastily and Inari grinned back. "Just in case they are cowards like that though, keep an escape route ready and don't look back, if they are like that? They don't deserve you or your family. Just leave and settle down in Konoha, we always can use some more carpenters."

He winked at the boy conspiratorial. "Somehow stuff always breaks, I have no idea why."

Inari snorted, looking back to the destroyed clearing. "Yes, absolutely no idea why." He repeated.

-o-

Kakashi slowly entered the house, distractedly leafing through his stolen documents.

He couldn't stop grinning. With what he stole wave would recover quite fast and with a recovered wave, indebted quite deeply to Konoha, more money and missions would come Konoha's way, never mind the increased reputation.

He had already pocketed enough money to pay for this mission, some more as a bonus for himself and his genin and some choice real estate that would be rather useful, if Konoha ever planned to build a more permanent presence in wave.

"Hello Naruto, Haku." He greeted the boys talking animatedly over the dinner table. He couldn't see Tsunami anywhere, but she had avoided the kids since their little fight, so that didn't surprise Kakashi much.

"Hello Sensei." Naruto greeted him back, the broken jaw apparently already healed. Kakashi didn't bother thinking about it. He wouldn't understand anyway.

"Hatake-san." Haku bowed slightly.

"Well, at least somebody is polite to me. Maybe I can get the Hokage to drop Naruto and make you take his place." Kakashi joked. The boy blinked, but frowned at Kakashi, weird reaction.

Naruto merely rolled his eyes, not just at Kakashi though. "He's joking Haku. He doesn't mean it seriously. Geez, you should get stuff like that."

Haku blushed crimson and locked down. "If you are to be my friend, I wouldn't want to take your place... and I'm not used to such interaction. Zabuza-sama always says what he means, he doesn't joke like that and... I didn't..."

Kakashi waved him down. "Mah, mah. No need to be down on yourself. As I said, Naruto isn't exactly a shining example for decent social interaction." He winked at the boy, who looked back, first distrustful, then smiled tentatively. Kakashi filed him away as a lost cause.

Maybe in a few years he would be able to fake a smile better... Kakashi glanced at Naruto, and maybe Naruto actually could teach him to smile for real. But if so, Naruto could work miracles.

He considered that for a second, Naruto had already gone back in time. Why not work other miracles?

Sighing he laid the papers on the table. "Have you two seen Tazuna? I've got some stuff for him."

Naruto looked over the papers as well. "Huh? That's all? I expected more..." He pulled a paper from the small pile and read it.

"Naruto, those are certificates of ownership. They are worth a bit more than a sack of money." Kakashi berated the boy.

"And whoever owns these papers owns the items?" Naruto asked, not bothering to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

Haku shook his head. "Not really. However, it's much easier to get those items if you do have those certificates. And if the owner is dead..." Haku shrugged.

"Exactly, if they work a bit they should be able to get a decent price for those at least. More than enough to bring wave back into shape." Kakashi smiled at Haku, respectful and smart, he would really have to work on the Hokage to make sure Haku could stay in the village, they had so few genin like him.

"Of course, they need to be able to hold onto the money and protect themselves from bandits and the like, can't always count on ninja to pull their asses out of the fire, right Inari?" Sasuke walked into the room as well, Inari hot on his heels. The little boy nodded, looking at the older boy seriously.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with narrowed eyes for a second, but an easy grin replaced the look almost immediately.

"You two had a talk then?" He asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Just explained to him how to make sure his village is the right place for him. And that somebody has to make sure nobody else like Gato can get their claws into it again." He turned to Kakashi. "Sooo... how did it go Sensei?" He asked eagerly.

"Gato's dead." Kakashi answered, smiling lazily.

He noted that Inari eyes widened in shock for a moment, then he shook his head and smiled. "Good. He needed to go." He said with conviction.

"Yes, even some of his employees agreed with that. They helped me get to him." He decided not to go into details, the kid didn't need to know that much. Sasuke and Naruto also seemed content not to ask any more questions.

"Where's Sakura, I don't see her anywhere?" He asked, he had expected her to be here, waiting for him and her share of the money.

"She's sleeping, the fight must have taken a lot out of her." Naruto said. Though he shot a quick look at Haku, whatever that meant. Kakashi wouldn't worry about it. He could trust Naruto that much.

"Well, let's get Tazuna, and then get ready to go back to Konoha." Kakashi said, as he turned to Haku. "No offense, but I would prefer to have him in Konoha before he's back in top condition."

Haku nodded placidly, though he couldn't entirely stop his glare.

-o-

Sakura grumbled a bit as she forced her chakra into her ribs, to make sure they stayed where they were supposed to stay.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for her to be up already? Her ribs are broken!" Tsunami admonished Kakashi again. Much to Sakura's delight. She would have preferred to stay in bed as well. But, well Kakashi hadn't lied, the faster they managed to get Zabuza to Konoha the better. Never mind the Hospital there. Her ribs would be in top shape much faster there than here. And she had gotten stir crazy after only one day in bed.

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. The trip back won't be a problem." She tried to placate the worried woman. "And if it does become too much? Well, I can just get one of the guys to carry me..." she leaned in and winked at Tsunami. "Might do that even if it won't be too much."

The older woman giggled quietly and nodded at Kakashi. "Very well. But... be careful, I know I avoided you..."

Sakura rolled her eyes. After what she had witnessed, that would be perfectly understandable. Ninja hadn't been liked very much were she came from. Not that they were ever attacked, the survivors, the few non ninja, weren't suicidal after all. But you could feel the hatred there. The hatred for those to blame for the end.

"So, don't worry about anything, if bandits do come just make sure you have some people in hard to reach places who can use a bow or a crossbow. And you should be fine. If it's ninja's just send somebody and call for us." Naruto said to Inari, who looked from him to Sasuke who nodded in agreement, and back to Naruto.

"Alright, will do... and you were awesome Naruto, well you know if you hadn't gotten your ass handed to you by a girl." Inari grinned evilly at him.

"Hey brat! You want a piece of me?" Sakura shouted at the kid, who hid behind Sasuke's leg. "Thought not." She laughed and ignored Tsunami's glare expertly. Not as if she would do anything to the kid really.

"Thank you again." Tazuna said, to Kakashi. "You could have just kept the money for yourself... instead..." He wiped some tears off.

Kakashi shrugged. "Eh, it was the right thing to do really."

And the fact that Konoha could make more money with a strong wave in their debt had nothing to do with it, eh Kakashi? Sakura thought amused.

She carefully stepped into the small boat, in which Haku and Zabuza already sat. Haku made sure that Zabuza sat as comfortably as possible. If they had stayed longer they could have used the bridge, but with Kakashi in a hurry, they would need to use the boat... or water-walk to the other side, but why bother.

Everybody filed into the boat, and the boats-man kicked off. Sakura watched the three people seeing them off. If Inari really wanted to become the leader of wave he would have some work in front of him. But with Kakashi's money and Tazuna's new reputation he would have an easier job than most.

"Thanks for talking to him." Naruto said to Sasuke, after they lost the group in the thick fog.

"Eh, no problem. And well, he talked to me. I just answered." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you two going to hug and be all brotherly now?" Sakura asked. "Cause if you are? I think I'm gonna drown myself."

She might try to not hate them as much, and she might try to behave herself better. But she would be damned if she suffered through too much sappiness. No way, no how.

Naruto sighed and looked at Sasuke. "I thought you said she would be better."

Sasuke glared back. "Hey, she is doing better. Don't expect miracles from me!"

Sakura grinned as they continued to squabble, much better.

-o-

Thanks to Slamu for proofreading


	7. Conversations

Fragments

-o-

Conversations

-o-

Naruto smiled in relief as he spotted the tall walls of Konoha, if he had to take one more day in close proximity of Zabuza and Sakura trying to outdo each other in tales of bloody slaughter he would go mad.

And the worst thing? Haku and Sasuke had always managed to take up the rear guard, while Kakashi had somehow managed to scout ahead. Sticking Naruto with making sure the two psychos didn't do anything they would regret.

Luckily neither actually had the capability to do anything drastic. Zabuza still hadn't recovered from his faked death, thanks to the forced march. And Sakura's ribs would take a bit longer to heal still. Not that you would notice, since she walked as carefree as the rest of them.

But Haku assured them, her ribs would likely take another week before they were healed fully.

"... so there I stood, surrounded by over twenty of the guys bodyguards." Zabuza said a bloodcurdling smile on his lips. "And the other 20 bodyguards just stared at me. Their friends broken bodies made a rather nice scenery for that final battle."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, the enemy fights so much worse if they are terrified of you. Strike hard and fast first, then just mop up the shaken survivors."

Zabuza laughed. "Exactly. Damn kid, how did Konoha manage to make you? The other two might be some soft ass pansies, hell Kakashi seems to be one. But you are something mist would be proud to call their own."

Sakura shrugged modestly. "Oh, I picked it up here and there."

Naruto rolled his eyes in disgust. Seeing those two bonding over their respective killing sprees...

Bah, better than them going at each other's throat he supposed.

"Well, here we are." Kakashi said. Naruto noticed the relief swinging in his voice.

"Glad you can offload Zabuza on somebody else?" Naruto asked snidely.

Kakashi nodded, a stupid grin spread all over his face. "Immensely. But I can also discuss your story with the Hokage."

Naruto felt a cold shiver run up his spine. "Hopefully we won't end up as Ibiki's chew toys." He muttered.

Kakashi shrugged. "I doubt it. You still have the Kyuubi, Sasuke had his Sharingan and Sakura has you two vouching for her."

Naruto glanced back at her, laughing loudly with Zabuza about one crude joke or another. "Kinda sad that she even needs it." He muttered dejectedly.

Kakashi nodded. "Well, if what she said is true, then I can understand her. The war had been hard on me as well. And if I hadn't had sensei..."

"Yeah, I can see that." Naruto agreed. And anyway, Sakura didn't seem to really enjoy it. She might laugh, but Naruto could see a tightness lingering around her eyes. He narrowed his own at that. She seemed to force herself into enjoying it? Did she tell herself she had to enjoy bloodshed to survive or something?

"Hey, Kakashi!" One of the gate guards greeted them. "Who's that?" He pointed at Zabuza.

Looking back at their captive lazily Kakashi shrugged. "Oh, just Zabuza of the Mist. We captured him and his apprentice in Wave."

Snickering, Naruto looked away from the bug eyed chunin. For a group of genin fresh out of the academy to accomplish that... sure they had Sharingan Kakashi, but still.

"And I didn't even have to move a muscle, my cute little genin did all the work for me." He patted Naruto's head. Forcing Naruto to resist the urge to snap at his hand, annoying bastard.

The two chunin slowly swiveled their heads toward Naruto, then Sakura, then Sasuke.

Sasuke and Haku had arrived as well, chatting amiably about hair care products... Naruto didn't know whether to scream or not. On the one hand, they were talking about the various uses of nice hair in the ninja life. For example, if you took the time to make sure your hair looked perfect people always assumed you didn't take your training seriously and thus underestimated you.

Or you had an easier time passing for a civilian with nice hair... on the other hand, they were talking about hair! Like freaking girls!

Bah, Naruto would have no part in it. Luckily neither of them actually always talked about stuff like that and they managed to include Naruto in many of their talks. He had gotten to know Haku a fair bit better by now.

Who knew the boy liked the giant sword of Zabuza and hoped he would be able to wield it one day?

Naruto still thought his breaking out in laughter at the image of Haku wielding that monstrosity was a perfectly reasonable reaction.

"Anyway, we need to see the Hokage, so he can decide what happens with Zabuza and Haku." Kakashi finished and walked on, waving his genin to follow him.

Sakura and Zabuza hadn't stopped their conversation at all, they did however lower the volume considerably. Suddenly Sakura punched Zabuza in the arm. "Oh that's evil!" She shouted, laughing loudly.

Zabuza rubbed his arm with a grimace, causing Naruto to smirk at him. Served him right for corrupting Sakura further.

Though Naruto supposed from Zabuza's perspective having a thoroughly bruised arm was a small price to pay for keeping Sakura away from Haku. She amused herself by freaking him out, sneaking into his bed at night, making lewd suggestions during the day.

Naruto didn't know whether she actually meant them or if she just tried to get a rise out of Haku. Could be both at once, could be one or the other.

He and Sasuke had made it clear to Haku that giving in wouldn't be an option. Not necessarily because she wouldn't enjoy it, but there were just too many unknowns. For all they knew Sakura bit the heads off of her lovers in the middle of the act. And after all the trouble they went through to save Haku, Naruto just wouldn't risk it.

He smiled at the people around him, not his demented grin he wore in his youth. He could recognize that as counterproductive, it had been more of a challenge anyway. Just the quite smile of somebody who understood their fears and worries.

They had a point kinda. If he lost control... well not much of Konoha would be left. A certain amount of fear wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Many people watched him uneasily, but most people just ignored him, which irritated him more. At least he could change the opinion of those who glared at him, those who didn't even look?

Bah, after the chunin exams he would get other looks and from there it would be entirely different anyway.

Sakura and Zabuza had stopped talking, he noticed. Zabuza instead watched the rooftops and the streets, his hand going for the sword handle it expected to find just over the shoulder. However Kakashi had carried the sword, just like Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto carried the rest of Zabuza's and Haku's equipment.

Just because they surrendered didn't mean they were trusted after all.

Haku and Sasuke hadn't stopped talking, but they had shifted the topic, to what Haku would do in Konoha. Which largely depended on their talking with the Hokage. Naruto really hoped the Hokage could spare Zabuza's life. Naruto wanted Haku to integrate into Konoha, but without Zabuza and worse a Zabuza killed by Konoha that would be a pipe dream.

In the tower they were quickly ushered up, into the Hokage's office. The capture of one of the Seven Swordsmen obviously was something the Hokage needed to deal with and fast.

As they entered the Hokage busied himself with some scant papers on his desk. He quickly looked up though and smiled at them. "Kakashi and Team Seven. It's good to see you." He frowned at Zabuza and Haku. "And who might these two be?" He asked mildly. Naruto narrowed his eyes, he had no doubt whatsoever that the Hokage knew exactly who they were.

"Eh, the pretty one counts as spoils of war." Sakura piped up. "And I'm willing to forgo mission pay if I can keep him. I have the prettiest collar that would go so well with his eyes."

Sasuke couldn't entirely suppress his smirk, and honestly Naruto had trouble keeping his own off his face.

Kakashi somehow managed to remain impassive and the Hokage just raised an eyebrow at Sakura.

Haku on the other hand hid behind Naruto and Zabuza glared at Sakura. "I said it before, you won't turn Haku into your pet... no matter how much I like you."

Sakura snorted at him. "And who's gonna stop me? You?"

Zabuza sneered right back. "No, him." He pointed at Naruto, who looked at the glaring Sakura and nodded

"Sorry, no human pets for you. The landlord wouldn't approve I'm sure." At least Naruto's hadn't, when he tried to bring in that badger... in retrospective it had been clear from the get go... and the badger had fought pretty badly and would have made a shitty pet anyway.

Sakura huffed dejectedly but kept quiet from that point on.

The Hokage looked at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "And what am I supposed to do with them?" He asked him.

Kakashi shrugged and grinned in that way that pretty much said. 'It's not my problem anymore, now that I'm here you deal with it, that's your job.'

Naruto noted that the old man's eyes could twitch pretty neatly, conveying a lot of annoyance with just one little twitch.

"Hey old man, don't ask Kakashi, ask us! We captured them. Shouldn't we get a say what happens to them?" Naruto grinned disarmingly at the old man. It had always worked in the past.

But now the old man looked at him kinda...distant. Naruto sighed, he had changed a fair bit from the little kid the Hokage expected, which cut a bit into their closeness he supposed. Still the old man did raise an eyebrow. "And what would you want me to do with them?" He asked dubiously.

Naruto didn't stop grinning, just what he wanted to hear, even if with a bit more doubt than he would have liked.

"Let them live in Konoha." He said proudly.

The sad smile the Hokage gave him hadn't been unexpected really.

"I can't just let two enemy nin join our village as ninja Naruto. It's much too dangerous." He shook his head.

"I don't want both of them to join the forces, just Haku. As long as Zabuza is here and he's alright Haku will be loyal, right?" He looked at the boy who nodded slowly back, though he made it quite clear just how dubious he was of Naruto's plan.

The old man sighed tiredly. "Even then, we have treaties with Mist; we are obligated to hand Zabuza over to them. If we don't, they don't need to hand over our missing nin either."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "So what? The only missing nin that would even be in Zabuza's league are Itachi, Orochimaru and Madara... and quite frankly if either of them are ever captured by Mist we have bigger problems than Mist not handing them over."

He didn't chuckle at the Hokage's expression as he imagined the nin that managed to capture either of those.

"Maybe." The old man conceded. "Still Zabuza is dangerous, we can't just have him walk around the village." He glared at Naruto. "And before you suggest posting a guard on him, we can't just delegate a jonin to watch him for days on a time."

Sasuke piped up. "It could be a vacation post or something, Zabuza's not going to try anything with Haku here either. They are kinda codependent like that."

"I'm not." Zabuza said harshly.

Though when Sakura muttered something in his ear, he turned away. "Ok maybe I am..." He admitted.

Sakura smirked victorious and Haku looked at her and Zabuza with not a small amount of wonder in his eyes.

"See? He won't start trouble." Naruto pointed out to the old man.

The Hokage leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "I'll admit, the thought of having the demon of the Mist in Konoha is somewhat tempting, on the other hand having the demon of the Mist in Konoha is also very troubling. You know what he did to his graduation class."

Naruto nodded. But he knew he had the Hokage, now he just had to sweeten the deal. Having some pull with the people in power always had some advantages.

"Well for one I can tell you where some of Orochimaru's bases are." He opened the negotiations. "And I suppose Zabuza won't mind telling Ibiki all sorts of secrets about Mist in exchange for his life and a lack of new scars."

"What makes you think that brat?" Zabuza sneered angrily.

Naruto merely looked at him, an eyebrow raised. Zabuza sighed and backed down. "Fine, you're right, I don't like those bastards from Mist enough not to tattle."

Nodding Naruto turned back to the Hokage, who had already recovered from the shock of Naruto's revelation. He had wiped his face and looked at Naruto very, very dangerously. "How do you know where they are?" He asked, his voice hard.

Naruto had expected that though. He glanced at Zabuza. "After we have finished the negotiations. And Zabuza is out of here. Actually let's make it part of the deal." Not that Kakashi didn't already know, but he kept quiet for now, watching how this would play out.

The Hokage glared at him, but a glance at Zabuza made him see the wisdom of that.

Then his smile returned. "You know who Orochimaru is, how dangerous he is, don't you?" He asked genially.

Naruto nodded carefully. "And you want me to believe you would keep that information back from me, just to protect a criminal like Zabuza?" The Hokage asked.

Naruto grimaced, damn, his bluff got called. "Well, not Zabuza, I care more about Haku, but Haku's only happy if Zabuza isn't dead..."

The old man nodded, a real smile on his face now.

"And yeah, I would have told you anyway... damn it old man, couldn't you have just let me get away with it?" Naruto glared at the bastard in front of him.

"If you want to become Hokage you will have to be able to bluff better Naruto." Was the amused reply. Bastard, using his goals against him...

"Meh, I suppose." Naruto grumbled.

"Still, those bases, together with Zabuza's information would be rather useful." Sarutobi mused.

"But not quite enough eh old fart?" Sakura piped up, grinning evilly at Naruto.

"Hey, do you want to have Haku around to play with?" Naruto fired back.

"I thought he wasn't a toy?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"He isn't, but I doubt that would stop you from playing with him."

"True... well I know about a few of Madara's bases, I can probably lead a task force there." Sakura shrugged.

Slowly Naruto looked at the Hokage. The expression on his face... absolutely hilarious. To find out a genin had that kind of info...

"How?" The old man whispered.

"Sakura shrugged dismissively. "Hey, after Zabuza's gone alright? Besides, I might be wrong. There are some things that... well after Zabuza's gone."

"That... that would be... I believe you have just bought Zabuza's life... and his full health... if he agrees to a full disclosure, of course." The old man had been visibly shaken by their revelations.

"By the way, I have the mangekyo sharingan." Sasuke piped up.

Wow, watch the Hokage turn to stone at that revelation.

"Uhh, why mention that now?" Naruto asked his friend.

"I felt left out. You were telling him cool things, but I had nothing to tell him." He shrugged.

"Heh, attention whore." Sakura sniped. Luckily Sasuke ignored it, Naruto didn't want them squabbling in front of the Hokage.

The old man shook his head quietly while looking at Sasuke. "Can you..." He started saying, but then Sasuke activated his eyes, showing off the sharp edges of his tomoe.

"Incredible... somebody so young..." The Hokage muttered. Hmm, so he knew about that little effect of the sharingan? Naruto filed it away. He supposed that if Itachi had really worked for the Hokage he would have known about it... or Itachi had told him in an effort to keep Danzo in check.

"So, Zabuza remains healthy and whole, as long as he doesn't cause any trouble?" Naruto asked.

Slowly the old man nodded. "I... yes, the both of them will have to go through a security check by Ibiki, nothing too intrusive of course, and both will have to remain in the village under constant guard... for quite some time." The Hokage looked at them, searching for any hint of defiance.

But Zabuza merely sighed resigned. "Not as if I can do much against the kids. If they wanted to they could keep me healthy and whole while beating the shit out of me." He grumbled.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at that. "Very well, Matsuri?" He called for somebody.

A young chunin came in quickly. "Could you collect a jonin guard for these two and escort them to Ibiki? And make sure Ibiki only asks them questions, no torture whatsoever... unless they cause trouble, if they do he has permission to do whatever is necessary."

Matsuri nodded and gestured for them to follow him, which they did surprisingly meekly.

"Did we break Zabuza or something?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well... at least his ego. I mean beaten by three totally unknown genin? That had to hurt." Sasuke shrugged.

The old man watched them as well as Kakashi, then he turned to Naruto. "I trust you Naruto, that is one reason I made this trade, I trust in your judgment, but... I'm not certain..."

Naruto nodded, not entirely unexpected. He pulled his jacket and shirt off, revealing his stomach. Then he pulled on his chakra and the familiar spiral seal appeared on his stomach.

"Well, that..." The old man started, but Naruto wasn't done yet, he pulled some of the Kyuubi's chakra out. Sakura hissed distasteful, not in fear, but he could feel the anger rolling off her. Keeping this up for long probably wouldn't be conductive for his health. Especially if he wanted to avoid killing her, so he shut the chakra down quickly.

"As you can see, I can control the Kyuubi to a certain degree." Naruto grinned at the flabbergasted old man. Flabbergasted and slightly afraid as well.

"Naruto... how?" He asked.

Kakashi coughed. "Time travel."

The Hokage glared at him sharply. "Don't be absurd!" He snapped, before he looked at them. And stopped. "He's serious?" He asked, looking at them, searching for any hint of falsehood.

Sakura shrugged. "It's not quite accurate, but it's the easiest explanation and the only one I actually bothered to listen too. Madara had the habit to ramble on and on and on... bah, I've been lucky to remember as much as I did."

"Madara... you talked to him?" The old man leaped at the topic.

Sakura nodded. "I worked for him. Got him some rare stuff, books, scrolls, drugs. You know anything you might need for chakra research."

As expected the Hokage looked at her in a mixture of horror and disgust.

"Why would you work for that madman?" He asked quietly.

"Hmm?" Sakura looked at him, her face a study of boredom. "Maybe because Konoha had been destroyed years ago. The last survivors scattered through the world... or what's been left of it. Maybe because he was one of the few that could actually fight me and stand a chance of winning. Though mostly because he offered me a way out of that hellhole." Her face twitched while she said that, not much, barely noticeable really, but it did.

The Hokage had paled. "And you all..." He whispered.

Sasuke shook his head. "Nah, she's from an alternate time line or something. Where I come from my father sacrificed himself, rather than Naruto's father. Threw a spanner into Madara's plans really, since the Uchiha were integrated quite firmly into Konoha, instead of driven to the sidelines."

The Hokage looked down for a second, away from Sasuke, then he nodded sadly. "I see." He looked at Naruto, probably expecting something similar.

"Eh, my time line looked pretty similar to this one... Sakura's as well I suppose... well until after the invasion." Naruto answered easily.

"Invasion?" The Hokage and Kakashi echoed each other.

"Yes, invasion." Sakura repeated. "Sound and Sand plan to invade Konoha at the finals of the chunin exams. Though really it's mostly Orochimaru playing one of his little games." Sakura shrugged.

"Orochimaru..." The Hokage sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Eh, he's also after Sasuke... but I doubt he'll succeed this time." Naruto added.

"This time?" The Hokage asked. "I'm feeling a headache coming on." He added, massaging his head.

"Well, thanks to the whole Uchiha massacre Sasuke kinda became obsessed with revenge, Orochimaru preyed on that. And well... Orochimaru's cursed seal and Itachi's mind rape kinda... well... "Naruto trailed off, he didn't need to add anything anyway. The old man understood.

"And why do you think... ah right, he's not obsessed with revenge."

Naruto grinned back. "I'm actually wondering what he'll do once he meets Itachi. It should be fairly interesting."

Sasuke whistled innocently. "I might have to borrow your expertise on pranks for that Naruto."

"You got it." Naruto nodded grinning.

"What exactly happened during the invasion?" The old man tried to steer the conversation back on track.

Sakura answered for them. "Well, Sand brought their own crazy Jinchuriku, Gaara, he went mad, Naruto flattened him and somehow healed him or something. Don't ask me what exactly he did... and damn, all this talking made me thirsty." She pulled a ever present bottle of sake out of nowhere and guzzled it down.

"Ahh, that hit the spot. Anyway, no idea what Naruto did, all I know is he said some stuff to Gaara and the loser leaves. Meanwhile you were killed by Orochimaru, so Naruto and Jirayia were sent to collect Tsunade to become the next Hokage."

"And failed of course." The old man said.

Naruto laughed. "Ha! You should have more faith in me old man. I succeeded, totally."

Sakura shrugged. "That he did, he somehow brought her back, fat lot of good it did. After he and Sasuke defected she broke down and made way for Danzo... yay we have a warmongering idiot for a Hokage. Not fun the next few years lemme tell you."

Naruto grimaced, way to rain on his parade. "I obviously didn't defect where I'm from. She did a superb job there." He grinned at the Hokage, but he looked sharply at Sakura.

"Why did Naruto defect?" He asked.

"How should I know?" She countered. "He just disappeared one day. No explanation given just gone. He showed up a few years later, leading some sort of monster army. I have no idea what happened. For all I know the Kyuubi got the better of him." She shrugged. "Or he went mad because his lover had a thing for older men, no idea really."

Ohh, Naruto would get her for that one.

The old man leaned back in his seat, then slowly, ever so slowly looked at Naruto. "You managed to bring Tsunade back as Hokage you said?" He asked with deceptive innocence.

"I can do it again. No problem really." He grinned, that should make sure the old man got to enjoy the end of his life at least a little bit.

The old man smiled back. "If you do manage it... well I don't think I can reward you appropriately, but a promotion to chunin should be in it, don't you think?" He asked.

"Huh? We aren't going to enter the chunin exams?"

"Well... if we assume what you are saying is true, then you all are above chunin level already, right?"

Naruto nodded slowly and he could see Sakura and Sasuke do the same.

"Then what point is there in entering you? It would be rather unfair for the other genin wouldn't it?"

Kakashi snorted in the background.

"You disagree Kakashi?" The old man asked.

"No, I'm in total agreement. The other genin would get slaughtered. They wouldn't stand the slightest chance." He chuckled at the thought. "They beat Zabuza without breaking a sweat sir. Mere genin, even this Gaara wouldn't stand a chance really."

The old man nodded. "See, even he agrees."

Naruto groaned, he had looked forward to acing them easily, then he narrowed his eyes. "Let's make a deal, I find and drag back Tsunade and you let me enter into the exams. I want to do them. I failed the first time, hell I never ever managed to do them a second time! For fucks sake, I was still a genin when I faced Madara! I want that promotion, and I want it fair and square!"

"You do realize that the chunin exams are only one way to become a chunin? They are the most public way, sure but not the only way." The old man said.

Naruto looked at his teammates. Sakura chuckled darkly and Sasuke grinned in anticipation. "You two want to enter the exams as well don't you?" He asked.

"Hell yeah, that should be fun." Sakura shouted, and emptied her bottle.

"Ohhh yes, this will be so much fun!" Sasuke added.

"I totally support them there." Kakashi added, somehow a little yen sign had appeared in his eye.

The Hokage groaned. "I will not..."

"Then it's no early retirement for you... or rather late retirement..." Naruto quickly attacked.

The old man glared at him. "Do you really think I can't call your bluff?" He glared at him.

"I can totally prevent Orochimaru from killing you." Naruto grinned back insolently. "No need for Tsunade to come back then. Years more of having to worry about the village. And I'm sure I can steal every single Icha Icha book from you, without you being able to do..."

"Enough... you've won. I pity those poor souls in the exam, but better them than me." The Hokage sighed.

Naruto nodded, keeping his expression passive, he could celebrate later.

"Well... since you managed to catch a high class missing nin I'll assume the mission didn't go as planned?" The old man quickly changed the subject.

Naruto blinked confused. "Huh?"

"We can't do anything about the Invasion at the moment, we still have a lot of time to plan. The exams don't start for another two weeks after all. So I would prefer if you had some time to gather your thoughts and present me, or better Ibiki, he's better at ferreting every bit of useful information out... don't look at me like that, I mean he's good at debriefing, spotting things you might miss, not torturing you."

"He wouldn't be able to keep us down anyway." Sasuke snorted.

"Maybe." The old man said dubiously, but Naruto had no problem letting him keep his illusions.

"Anyway, I want to give you some time off before he's grilling you. Not to mention I have to order my own thoughts as well. What you have told me..."

All three of them nodded, they could get why he needed some time to think.

And maybe discuss them with Kakashi?

"So, a high class missing nin, so the employer lied... which is unfortunate, since we can't pay you the full..." Kakashi coughed again.

"Actually, since the situation improved dramatically thanks to us, Wave managed to pay us quite generously, we have received payment for an a-class mission as well as a bonus for the deception up front." Kakashi lied with a straight face.

The Hokage blinked, but nodded. "I see, well in that case each of you receives the full a-class payment of course as well as the bonus. Now, dismissed and enjoy yourself."

He gestured for them to leave.

They quickly left the office, whatever he wanted to talk to Kakashi about, he wanted it to be private, and they had no desire to intrude, besides Naruto might not want to hear what was said, the revelations had caused a rift between him and the old man, he hoped he could bridge that rift given time, but... better not think about it.

-o-

The Hokage stared at Kakashi for a long time, smoke slowly rose from his pipe. After about a minute he spoke up.

"This has gone remarkably smooth." He said.

Kakashi nodded, the kids had quite the important information.

"Do you think we can trust them?" The Hokage added.

Now Kakashi remained silent for a long time. He trusted them, trusted them to tell him the truth, even Sakura, maybe especially Sakura. She looked at him... a lot like his team members in Anbu had looked at him, unconditional trust, mixed with admiration. However, there was something there his old subordinates had missed, the knowledge that he could fail! That even he made mistakes.

"That depends on what you mean by trust. Do I trust them to tell the truth? Yes. I have no idea how it's possible, but I fully trust them to tell us the truth... as they see it. Do I trust them to be right? Well, as they said, they are from different time lines, that much is certain. Just because this time line is similar to one of theirs doesn't mean it actually is. There might be quite fundamental differences here."

Kakashi shook his head. "And even if I trust them, we have to be careful, I can be wrong. We will need to watch them. Especially if they are telling the truth. They are used to behaving differently than what people expect, that might get them into trouble."

The Hokage nodded slowly. "I agree, I assume you want to continue the surveillance?"

Kakashi considered it, he wanted to yes, but should he? His emotional involvement... no matter, whoever started observing them would sooner or later be involved, they were too good not to notice somebody watching them.

"Yes. I think creating an emotional bond with me... or strengthening the one that already exists will help them reintegrate faster." He said.

The Hokage snorted, but nodded. "I see. I hope they are telling the truth, there are so many problems we can stop before they become worse problems...

"Well, I've read a few time travel stories... and the knowledge of the future becomes useless rather fast, the more you change..." Kakashi pointed out.

The Hokage rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but if Orochimaru is planning to invade he won't stop now. Too much effort went into the invasion and he isn't one to stop just because some variables changed."

He looked hard at Kakashi. "Make sure Ibiki get's everything they know about the invasion out of them. Everything. We can't afford to miss anything. Oh and... once I've finished with sorting through this expect a real debriefing for you as well."

Kakashi nodded, it would be a bit rough on them, however they could take it. And with him there Ibiki couldn't become too rough anyway. So the Hokage just gave him permission to protect his team. Not that he thought his genin would break. But they might break Ibiki.

"Thank you Hokage sama." He bowed and left.

As he closed the door behind him he could see the Hokage smile broadly and Kakashi could even hear him chant. "Retirement, retirement, finally retirement."

Kakashi smiled. The old man did deserve to rest some.

-o-

Sasuke whistled as they walked down the main road. The meeting with Ibiki wouldn't be fun, not by a long shot, but he didn't worry too much. Sure the man had a sadistic streak, but he could keep it in check. They had arranged for Haku and Zabuza to have a chance to live in Konoha, as long as they behaved at least... no worries with Haku, Zabuza on the other hand.

Oh well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it. Sasuke wouldn't worry about it now, not as if they couldn't just beat Zabuza into submission.

Sakura hummed some creepy tune, and Naruto led the way to some food. Probably ramen, his friend had an unhealthy obsession with the food.

A long coat caught his attention, hmm...

"Anko!" He screamed and threw himself at the woman, who had stopped still, as soon as she heard her name. She managed to keep standing even as Sasuke barreled into her.

Sure, she wouldn't be anything like his Anko, probably, but she would still be Anko. Thus always good for one prank or another.

"The hell? Do I know you brat?" Anko asked, as she futilely tried to pry him off of her, but Sasuke wouldn't be that easy to dislodge... he liked Anko not just because she acted like a cool older sister and mentor after all. He grinned lecherously, glad she couldn't see his face.

"You two! You are his teammates, what's wrong with him?" Anko asked confused. "I don't usually have strange kids throwing themselves at me."

He heard clothes rustle as Sakura shrugged... "How should I know? I'm currently filing it under brain damage, but who knows he might just have a thing for older women."

Anko locked down. "Is that so? You want a piece of me?" He could hear the dangerous grin, he didn't need to look up to see it. He would be lying if he said he didn't want a piece of her.

But it felt... all kinds of wrong to seriously consider it. Fun to tease her? Hell yes, but seriously consider sleeping with Anko? She was like his big crazy sister! Wrong wrong wrong! And let's not get into the age difference. Even with the years he had on this body.

Still, he could hear her playful lilt, she didn't seriously consider it either, so...

"Hmm, I've always thought you were one of the most beautiful women in Konoha." He smiled up at her, using a minor genjutsu to enhance his appearance.

Anko twitched back, clearly expecting a different reaction. "Huh?" She asked.

"Really! I've adored you for a long time." Technically true, just not in the way she thought he did at the moment.

"Uhh you are..." She started, trying to make the crazy kid go away. If he kept this up she would swear revenge. Oh, the fun!

"Anko, I've loved you for so long!" He swooned into her arms, and she caught him quickly. Probably shocked surprise. He looked at her face, the genjutsu adding sparkles all around him.

"Will you make me yours?" He asked her breathlessly.

"Ahhhhhh!" Anko dropped him and turned tail. She had disappeared before he could even blink.

"Bwahahaha! Talk about commitment problems." Sakura howled as she watched Anko flee.

"I.. I've never seen somebody do that to Anko..." A female voice said behind him, as Sasuke pushed himself up and dusted himself down.

Behind him stood Kurenai, staring at the dust-cloud Anko had left in her wake. "And I'm not sure I approve of Anko seducing minors." She added. "You are Kakashi's kids aren't you?"

Sasuke nodded eagerly, Kurenai might never have been as close to him as Anko... but whatever else you might say about Kunoichi, most of them were real lookers and now nobody tied him down... it wasn't supposed to make him sad damn it!

Naruto shrugged. "Yes, you are entering your team into the chunin exams as well?"

Kurenai looked at him in surprise. "I didn't think Kakashi would tell you he would entered you. At least he wouldn't until a day before the exams."

"Eh, he would have done it, if we didn't already know about the exams and demanded he enter us." Sakura grinned at the older woman. "We have a way with words you see."

"A way with words?" Kurenai asked.

Sakura nodded and pulled a bottle out. "Yes, a way with words it's all hush hush though. Wouldn't want the Hokage's love for certain books to get out in the open now would we?"

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you'll find that his like for Icha Icha is an open secret."

"Of course it is, but did anybody tell that to him?" Sakura smirked at Kurenai, who smirked back.

"I suppose some good should come from it at least. I hope you can keep your boys in check." Kurenai looked at Sasuke as she said that. Which he found totally unfair, not as if he went around molesting random strangers.

"Hey, I resent that. I'm a perfect gentleman." He grumbled.

Giggling Kurenai nodded. "I'm sure."

Idly he sidestepped several kunai, and the next wave. His eyes widened as he dodged the kurenagi as it whirled for his head.

"Die Uchiha!" Tenten screamed as she continued her mad attack.

"Oh come on! It was a test! Not my fault you didn't pay attention where my hands were going." Sasuke defended himself.

It would have been nice if his teammates had interfered... and where did Sakura get the popcorn from anywhere?

"Hey! Could you maybe help instead of watching?" He shouted at her.

Instead she turned to Kurenai. "I don't need to keep them in check. Konoha kunoichi are perfectly capable of doing it on their own... popcorn?" She held the bag out for Kurenai.

"I would love to, but I have to meet my team. Don't let her kill him?" She shook her head grinning.

Sasuke glared darkly at them, barely paying attention to the various weapons coming his way. Sure, they would have killed a lesser being from the get go, but his sharingan easily enabled him to dodge them, even when they came ten or twenty knives at a time.

Naruto didn't interfere as well... "Damn it! If you had the time to get some ramen at least have the decency to bring some for me as well!" He shouted at the blond.

"Pay attention when I'm killing you!" Tenten screamed at him, attempting to drive a sword through his stomach.

"Don't you think this is a tad excessive?" He whispered in her ear. "I mean sure I tricked you. But I didn't lie when I said that you are very attractive, actually you are kinda hot even trying to kill me."

Her left eye twitched and she redoubled her efforts to eviscerate him. Her breathing came in short gasps by now and slowly but surely she wore herself down.

He wondered why, usually she could be counted on to move a lot more conservatively and much smarter as well. So why...

"By the way Uchiha." She grinned at him. "You are now trapped in my web."

He looked around blandly. Weapons surrounded him on all sides, but they were inert, no wires attacked to any of them, so what? A lightning fast punch send him to his stomach.

"Uff, what was that for?" He glared at her. Then looked down, as he noticed a new weight on his chest.

"Something I always wanted to try out. A chakra charged magnet. Just a silly little Idea I had one night. I always wondered if it would be useful for real combat, figured I would test it out on you." She shrugged.

Sakura nodded in approval, the bitch. "Nice going kid." She gave Tenten a thumbs up, who didn't even acknowledge Sakura's existence.

Sakura took that in stride however. "By the way, where's Lee? I have some fun games in mind."

Tenten immediately rounded on her. "Keep your dirty claws off Lee, he deserves better." She growled at Sakura.

Who smiled back saucily and burped into Tenten's face. "Whatever you say princess."

Tenten stumbled back, coughing and blinking. "What? What did you... oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!" She groaned.

Sasuke meanwhile proceeded to disable the magnet, having to keep moving at a slow pace because otherwise a kunai tried to hump your leg would get annoying very fast. At least the weapons were slow. If the magnet had been stronger...

"You might want to develop this idea further." He told Tenten, who currently stumbled uncoordinated around the area. "If you add some more chakra this might be an interesting weapon. You might need to make sure it sticks to your opponent though, I would have just had to toss it to the ground to get rid of it."

He dropped the magnet into her hand and kissed her cheek. "Have fun improving it." He said as he waved her goodbye.

He didn't mention that it still attracted her weapons. It would after make cleaning up after her so much easier. And he was nothing if not considerate.

"Here." Naruto said and handed him a bowl of ramen. "Don't say I don't think of you again."

Sakura had a bowl sitting beside her as well, she contented herself with her popcorn and sake for now though.

"So, what do we do now?" She asked, staring at the Hokage monument.

"I figure we tell Ibiki everything we know, maybe help plan some sort of defense, if they let us. Though, if Ibiki can confirm some of the things we say then that should give us some clout. And we are all rather experienced. Even if we don't look like it." Naruto answered easily.

Sakura snorted. "Some more than others."

Sasuke sighed. "Yes, yes. You are more badass than we are. You don't have to rub it in."

Her other faults were bad enough, bragging didn't need to be added to the list.

"Whatever." She said. "But that's not what I meant. I meant what are we going to do now? I'm already bored. Maybe I'll go look for Lee. I'm sure he can keep me... entertained."

"You are twelve." Sasuke pointed out. Even if he cursed that little fact.

"So?" Sakura asked oblivious.

"He's only a year older." Sasuke added.

"Again, so?"

He sighed in disgust. "I'm not allowing it." He glared at her.

"What are you, my mother?" She glared right back.

"For the purpose of this conversation? Yes! No way are you going to have sex this young. It's bad for Lee's mental development."

"What little of it there is." Naruto sniped, earning himself a kunai to the head. Which he didn't dodge.

"Ahhh crazy bitch!" He shouted as he quickly pulled it out.

"Don't insult Lee in my presence then." Sakura growled, while Naruto mourned the death of his forehead protector.

"I'll have to get a new one now! This was Iruka's! He gave it to me himself!" Naruto moaned.

"I know, I was there remember?" Sakura sneered. Sasuke sighed, would he ever get used to these team dynamics? Probably not, but whatever.

"Forehead, what did you do now?" Ino asked and Sasuke turned around to smile at her.

"Hey Ino." He greeted the girl and ignored Sakura's coughed manslut. So what if he liked pretty girls? Since when was that a crime?

"Sasuke! Has Sakura been bothering you?" Ino had immediately wrapped around him.

"Nah, she's been annoying but..." He found himself talking to empty air.

"No sex for you two." Sakura grinned at him. "It's bad for Ino's mental development."

Foiled by his own argument... damn, he would have to be careful in the future about pulling stuff like that.

"I didn't plan on sleeping with her. Just some light make out sessions." He fired back.

Ino had exited the conversation at that point, lost in some sordid fantasy he guessed.

Damn, he wished he could enter her mind and see it. But as Itachi and Naruto's dad had hammered into his head again and again, invading somebody's privacy like that wasn't just rude, it also undermined the trust your fellow ninja had in you.

"Beside I think she's a bit farther along in her development than Lee. Isn't that generally true for females?" He added quickly. Maybe he could still salvage this.

The hard glare from Sakura hammered the final nail in that coffin. "Fine." He sighed. "Hey Ino? Wanna make out?"

Humm, having a girl hanging from you was as pleasant as always. So what if he was a man slut? What was so bad about that?

-o-

Naruto stared at Sasuke, he had know that this Sasuke didn't mind female attention, but that he actually encouraged it? Naruto considered his mind well and truly blown... he glanced at Sakura who glared sullenly at everything but the couple. He inched closer to her.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't think he actually considers her his girlfriend or something." He told her.

Sakura looked at him and a truly twisted smile crept onto her face. He felt a shiver run over his back. "Ohh you are still a virgin aren't you? Nearly forgot about that." She said. Why did they feel like pointing that out constantly? And what was so bad about being a virgin?

She patted him on the head. "Of course he isn't serious. It's just a fling to him. Even without sex. They'll have some fun, then he'll drop her, break her heart and she will find somebody else, somebody better who isn't you or Sasuke." She sniffed. "Or at least that's what I hope. If he decides to make this something serious... well, castration is always an option."

Naruto shivered. Man he always forgot that Sakura had some definitely warped ideas, he wanted nothing to do with.

"Ehehehee... whatever you say Sakura." He nodded quickly.

"Meh, now that he found some entertainment I'm bored again." Sakura sighed.

Naruto nodded, before he blinked he had nearly forgotten that Sakura still had broken ribs.

"You know? You could go to the hospital. Might heal your ribs a bit faster."

Sakura looked at him and eyebrow raised. Finally she nodded. "That is actually a reasonable idea. I totally forgot about hospitals, back home I just let it heal naturally. Nobody around to set a broken bone you know?" She pushed herself up and stomped over to Sasuke and Ino.

"As for you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't approve of, or Sasuke might regret it."

Somehow Sasuke managed to nod and wave her away without breaking lip-lock with Ino.

Sakura's eye twitched, but she merely huffed and walked away. Naruto fell in step beside her.

"Why are you following me Uzumaki?" She looked at him as if she had smelled something bad.

"I'm just as bored as you are. And once your ribs have healed I thought we might get some training done." He explained. He needed to do something, sitting around, doing nothing just grated on his nerves.

Sakura looked at him for a bit longer and nodded. "Fine."

-o-

Sakura stretched slowly, the doctor had taken one look at her ribs, done some chakra manipulation and declared her fit for duty. After he pressed her for the salve Haku had used on her. She had referred him to Ibiki for the answer to that question and fled the building. Hospitals gave her the creeps, ever since... she stopped thinking about it. It was over with, over and past and she wouldn't have to go there ever again if she had any say about the matter.

And she had a lot of say in the matter. She had learned more than enough suicide jutsu after all.

"You done warming up?" Naruto asked, finishing his own warm ups.

Sakura nodded, she kinda regretted that she couldn't beat his face in again, but she had just now recovered, no sense breaking her ribs again.

And then they clashed, whirling and slashing, hitting, kicking and spitting. They went through as many different forms as they could. Even with several weeks of training in these bodies and with the body memory of their bodies mostly intact they still had little errors in their stance, only Sasuke somehow had managed to remove them. Sakura attributed it to his more formal training.

Naruto to natural talent. Both agreed that it was utterly unfair.

Still, whining had never improved anybody, so they preferred to work on their weaknesses instead of crying about it like little children.

They trained in silence, each focused on their own bodies, the little corrections needed to increase their performance. Though she noticed the watcher as soon as Naruto did, the subtle change in stance gave Naruto's knowledge away and the not nearly as subtle change in the ambience of the training ground gave the watcher away.

Still, they ignored him or her, Sakura couldn't detect the gender yet, though from the way he or she kept hidden it had to be a Hyuuga. Only they could stay that far away. Which meant either Neji or Hinata.

She growled slightly and struck Naruto stronger than strictly necessary. But he didn't comment or even let her know he noticed, maybe he had maybe he didn't. In the end it wouldn't matter, he could deal with it.

It took them another hour until both of them sank to the ground exhausted, after only half an hour Sakura had shifted into a highly conservative style, and only moved if she absolutely had to. Naruto by contrast had shifted into a style that took full advantage of his stamina.

It had still taken him quite a while to exhaust her and he hadn't fared much better himself. Not that he couldn't just pull on the Kyuubi and instantly refill his reserves.

"You coming out now or do you just want to watch?" Sakura asked loudly.

Only a silent "Eep!" came as an answer, though it told her who watched them. She forced the growl away from her face. This Hinata hadn't done anything and if Sasuke had taken her with him...

She still had to fight rather hard to keep the angry frown of her face. She had seen Hinata only once after she had defected with Naruto.

She had been surrounded by her and Naruto's creations, cooing at them and giggling at everything the monsters did, which mostly consisted of feeding on human prey.

Once you saw something like that...

Quite frankly Sakura had no idea how exactly Hinata had turned from the shy girl into that creature, she had obviously been infected with some sort of chakra growth, the blue and red veins running all over her skin, and into her skin had been more than enough proof of that, but who could tell if she had been driven insane by that, or if it had been a product of her insanity?

Sakura hadn't intended to ask, she had been send to kill Hinata and for no other reason.

In the end Sakura had retreated and never looked back. If she had jumped in there, she would have ended up as just another would be assassin feeding Hinata's creations. And there had been far, far too many of those already. Sakura had even witnessed one attack.

The assassin had been fast, nearly as fast as Sakura. And he had actually managed to cut Hinata.

But the woman had just smiled at him, as her flesh had erupted around the sword embedded in her skin and held it there. The horrified assassin had then been ripped apart by her creatures. Not a fate Sakura had felt eager to share.

So she had returned to Konoha, dodging the various monsters roaming the land.

She shook her head and returned to the here and now and an innocent and pure Hinata, who smiled uncomfortably at her and Naruto.

"A.. I... Umm..." She stuttered, though Sakura could only sigh.

"Spit it out already." She grumbled, what kind of problem did the girl have with talking?

"Umm, I'm, I'm sorry for spying on you." She quickly bumbled out.

Naruto glared at Sakura, but Sakura merely raised an eyebrow. "What? We would have been here for a while if I hadn't prompted her."

"You could have been nicer." Naruto grumbled and turned to Hinata. "Don't mind her, she's a bitch." He said, smiling.

"And proud of it." Sakura added.

Hinata blinked confused. "Uhh, uhh... I thought you... umm... liked her?" She stuttered at Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. "Ehh, I kinda do still. But well, as she said, she's a bitch and proud of it as well." He leaned in, towards Hinata, totally ignoring her violent blush. "So I can call her a bitch all I want. And hey, if she behaves like a bitch to you all the time…"

Which Sakura found to be a crass exaggeration, she only behaved like a bitch seventy percent of the time after all, the rest of the time she tried to ignore him if possible.

"You kinda become disillusioned." He finished, utterly oblivious of Hinata's reaction.

Really, she would never get what the girl saw in him... unless she liked him because he ignored her. After all, if she never got together with him, then he could never hurt her.

Hmm made a strange sort of sense Sakura supposed.

"You still haven't said what you want here though." Sakura pointed out. Not that she didn't know why Hinata stood in the bushes staring at Naruto training, without Naruto noticing. But maybe the girl would get over her shyness and actually spit it out?

"I'm... I'm just..." And she went down, head as red as a tomato.

"Meh, weak... well better weak than crazy psycho I suppose." She said.

"Since training is over I suppose I should get going. I need to restock on the good booze, the stuff from Wave is only so-so after all. See ya Uzumaki." She waved and strolled away, leaving the oblivious idiot with his fainting stalker.

Both utterly clueless. At least Sasuke knew what you did with a willing female. Though she would kill him if he did it with Ino.

She stopped and considered that little tidbit, maybe she should introduce Naruto to sex ed? He might just have missed it after all. It would explain his lack of knowledge in that area.

Something to think about at any rate.

-o-

Ibiki sighed as he stepped into the room. Some light shone through the window since the Hokage insisted that this shouldn't be an interrogation in the strictest sense. Just an insistent question and answer session.

Zabuza sat in the middle of the room, he looked incredibly bored, but he also seemed resigned to his fate judging by the fingers tapping on the table.

He glanced up only as Ibiki sat down on the other side of the table.

"So." Ibiki started.

"So." Zabuza answered.

"Why don't you start?" Ibiki had really no idea how to approach this. Usually defectors came to Konoha, they weren't dragged in at Kunai point and told to defect or else. It just didn't work that way.

"What do you want to know? How your freakish genin beat me into the ground? Without even trying? Why I attacked Mist and became a missing nin? Some of mists more esoteric jutsu? Gimme a hint here." Zabuza growled at him, slightly.

"The first one then. I don't know too much about them." Ibiki replied blandly.

Zabuza snorted. "Well, the pink one is insane, that's obvious. A girl after my own heart really. If she were just a few years older..." He paused and grinned in the most obscene manner possible. "We would kill each other eventually I'm sure. But we would have so much fun on the way." He chuckled.

Ibiki sighed, why did he have to deal with the insane ones? What did he do to deserve this? Oh right torture and interrogation, what had he been thinking.

"Anything more, beside she's crazy?" He asked.

Zabuza looked at him then nodded. "She's got insane chakra control. She managed to accelerate herself to speeds... utterly insane, I couldn't even block her punches, she would just slip past my defenses. And that should tell you something." Zabuza looked at the table.

Well, beside the fact that Haruno found a way to boost her reflexes far beyond anything a ninja before her had achieved it didn't tell Ibiki much. But it would serve as info as soon as he debriefed her.

"What about the Uchiha?" He asked the man.

"Eh, I would say a total pansy... if he didn't cheer his teammates on as they attempt to kill each other. And he can use those eyes of his. He can use them too damn well. I didn't even notice that he caught me in a genjutsu." He sighed and looked up again. "But the last one... he's the most terrifying. The amount of chakra he has. He can create his own army, an army of supercharged shadowclones."

Zabuza shook slightly as he sat there. "He just created them, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. And he isn't even using the Kyuubi for it. He only uses that to heal himself I think."

Ibiki managed to keep his face impassive, what contempt, to use the power of the Kyuubi for nothing but a quick regeneration.

"How many clones did he make?" He asked the other man.

"Around 500 hard to count... the girl reduced them pretty quickly as well. She can move... hmm you know that might be another reason to stay in Konoha, if I wait a few years..." Zabuza licked his lips.

"Please, don't give me those mental images." Ibiki sneered at him. Zabuza merely rolled his eyes.

With a sigh Ibiki moved on, he would have to ask a bit more in dept about the kids later, but this would be enough for a rough framework.

"So tell me, do you think you can live in Konoha without starting any trouble?" He glared at the man. Honestly Ibiki didn't think Zabuza could.

Zabuza shook his head. "Nah, I'll try for as long as possible, for Haku's sake, but I doubt I'll make it for more than a month or so. I enjoy killing way too much to just give it up." He leered at Ibiki, maybe hoping to intimidate him?

"I honestly don't know what the Hokage sees in you." Ibiki shook his head.

"Nothing really, but those kids had info on Orochimaru and Madara... though I thought the later was dead. Oh well you learn something new every day." Zabuza shrugged.

Ibiki stared at him for a while. "The kids had that info? From where?"

"No idea, they wanted me out of the room before they talked about it. I'm sure you'll get to ask them soon enough though." Zabuza winked.

Ibiki sighed, this would be so much easier if he was allowed to bind Zabuza to a chair and rip his fingernails out.

"Ok, before we go on, why don't you give me a general rundown of the techniques you can perform?"

Might as well start with the easy bit of info. If Zabuza stayed with them a while, they would have ample time getting the more interesting bits.

"Heh, even without the Uchiha you guys steal techniques like crazy eh?"

-o-

Thanks to slamu for reading through it.


	8. Life

Fragments

-o-

Life

-o-

Naruto sighed as he looked around his apartment. Sure he shouldn't complain, many of his comrades had far less once they moved out of their parent's houses. But still, the apartment felt empty, utterly so.

He rummaged in his kitchen and pulled out several stacks of ramen and nothing else.

A quick look into the refrigerator confirmed that only bad milk and some old rotting vegetables remained.

Ah right, he needed to go grocery shopping. Three weeks on a mission were hell on perishables after all.

He looked at the ramen in his hands. Or he could ignore the need and live on a diet of water and ramen. Sure it would stunt his growth for a while, but who needed to be bigger anyway? It just made you a bigger target! And being smaller than the average meant that you had easier access to vital organs.

The best way to the heart was through the stomach after all.

-o-

Sakura waved a cheerful goodbye to her parents and sprinted out of the house. As soon as she felt sure her parents or neighbors couldn't see her she dropped the cheerful mask and pulled out a bottle.

"Kyaaaah! That hit the spot." She gurgled happily. Damn her sense of responsibility and more importantly her desire to keep her parents happy. No alcohol while in the house and she had to keep them under a light genjutsu to hide the alcohol from them.

Still, it could be worse, she could be unable to drink alcohol altogether.

She rubbed her ribs gently, medic nin were awesome. She would have to make sure Tsunade trained a lot more once she came back. Having your broken ribs healed like that... she had started to reinforce them with chakra this morning before she remembered they were already back in top condition.

Whistling she moved through the streets of Konoha, life bustling all around her. Merchants hawking their wares, messengers running around delivering their letters, mothers leading their children around...

Sakura accelerated, away from it all. The noise quickly got to her. She just couldn't deal with it. How had she dealt with it for the first few weeks? Ah right, she had ignored it as much as possible.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she arrived at the training ground. She bet that today or tomorrow Ibiki would call them in, to get the location of Orochimaru's bases. This should be fun, especially since Ibiki couldn't employ his more interesting techniques. Though she couldn't play too much with him either. The Hokage would only tolerate so much, and Ibiki even less.

"Hey Sakura!" Sasuke smiled as he ran towards her. And did he have to show off his hickey like that? Damn it, the less she knew about Ino and him the better.

"Uchiha." She grumbled and looked away pointedly.

Sasuke simply chuckled. "So you don't want your bent..." He looked at his hands in confusion, then at Sakura who snarfed the meal down quickly.

"Shanks." She said through a few bites.

"You have absolutely no manners." Sasuke sighed.

She grinned at him, showing off her nice and white teeth. Perfect chakra control had so many advantages, like never having to brush your teeth, just use chakra to clean em.

"I'm an animal I know." Sasuke snorted.

"Genjutsu like that don't work on me." He shook his head.

Damn, and he didn't even use his sharingan.

She spotted Naruto trotting towards them, a look of dumbstruck confusion on his face.

"Hey moron? What's wrong you look even more stupid than usual." Not that he looked that stupid anymore, but you had to get your licks in.

"People are nicer to me... much nicer." Naruto said, looking around as if he expected somebody to come jumping out and run him down.

Sasuke coughed. "Well, somebody might have mentioned that you captured a high class enemy nin and helped free a poor impoverished country from total ruin, to Ino... and anybody else willing to listen."

"What the hell?" Sakura asked. She had expected a lot from Sasuke, but not him starting to... to... what did he do anyway? Improve Naruto's reputation sure, but why?

"Uhh, not that I mind, but why?" Naruto echoed her thoughts.

"Well, you want to be Hokage right? Not a job I want to ever have, much too much hassle. But a Hokage needs to be loved by his people. So I'm helping you get famous. By the way, if anybody asks? You didn't do all that much, and you couldn't have done it without us anyway."

Naruto stared at Sasuke as if he was insane. "Well of course I couldn't have done it without you."

Now Sasuke stared at Naruto, pity shone from his eyes for a second, before he shook his head. "I always forget you haven't been trained in politics. We need to change that and asap. As the future leader of Konoha you need that training. Desperately."

Sakura blinked, Sasuke wanted to train Naruto in politics... that would turn out to be comedic gold.

"You've got good instincts already Naruto. And you are humble enough not to steal the spotlight from others. That helps a lot in politics, especially if you don't need to steal to spotlight to gather attention. But still, you need to make people aware of you. And not with pranks. Unless you manage to prank somebody spectacularly hated." Naruto had gotten a notepad from somewhere and wrote down every word the Uchiha uttered, nodding every now and again.

Sakura had tuned it out after the first few words. Nothing of importance to her, she had no desire to ever enter into politics. Her campaigns would end up having her opponents stabbed in the back. So much simpler really.

"Well, as interesting as Sasuke's lecture on village politics is." Kakashi spoke up. Sakura narrowed her eyes as she noted that he also wrote down every word Sasuke spoke. "We do have an appointment with Ibiki... and for once I don't want to be late... Ibiki gets annoyed when I'm late and..."

Sakura nodded, shivering. "You don't want to get Ibiki annoyed, he has his ways to make you regret it."

Kakashi glanced at her, but decided against questioning her.

"Well? Let's go then. He grinned at them and marched off."

-o-

Sasuke leaned back in his chair and smiled politely at the man in front of him. Sakura sat ramrod straight and for once had not a single remark against anybody in the room.

Instead she looked straight ahead, kept her mouth shut unless somebody asked something of her and if she said anything it came out as short clipped sentences, giving exactly the information she had been asked to give.

Ibiki seemed to love her. "Thank you Sakura, if you and Naruto are right we have at least five of his bases now. Maybe we'll be able to take him out soon." He even smiled at her. She didn't smile back, but she inclined her head politely at least. Damn, even the Hokage didn't get that much respect.

Naruto grimaced. "I don't think that's that good of an idea. Orochimaru's strong, very much so. He's managed to take out the Hokage when he fought him."

"Yes, the fourth said it took a lot out of him to beat Orochimaru. And that no one beside him stood a chance against Orochimaru." Sasuke added helpfully.

A strange expression came over Ibiki's face, like every time Sasuke talked about the fourth, after the Kyuubi attack.

"Well... do you think you stand a chance against him?" Ibiki asked, pleasantly. The entire session had been more or less pleasant. More like a discussion than anything else really.

They looked at each other, Sakura still in her stoic mask of professionalism, Naruto in intense concentration and Sasuke in his trademarked noble thinker pose.

Finally Naruto shook his head. "I don't think so. He's got a few aces too much up his sleeve. We could give him a run for his money, hell maybe we could even fight him to a draw. But he still has a lot of advantages over us." He sighed. "I would really prefer not to fight him until a bit later... maybe if I can get some training in Cloud..."

Ibiki's eyebrow rose practically over his head. "Training in Cloud? Why would you want training there?"

Kakashi nodded confused, Sakura seemed to ignore it, but she listened as well, Sasuke had no doubt about it.

"Because their jinchuriki taught me how to control the Kyuubi. And I think I need a certain cave for the full effect. I'm far more along now than I was before, I can pull a lot of its power out safely, but not everything I could if I had gone to that cave... I think at least. But considering the price of failure, I'm not gonna try if I'm not in that cave."

Ibiki nodded, but Sasuke could see the next question coming a mile away.

"Why would cloud allow you to train with their jinchuriki?" He asked.

"Because Madara planned to rip it out of me and take over the world with the combined form of all tailed demons." came Naruto's prompt answer.

Sakura didn't appear surprised by that. But then, she worked for Madara for a while. He probably told her all about his plan.

"World wide mind-control." Sasuke added. "If he had succeeded that would be the end result."

Ibiki shuddered. "And you think he's planning the same here."

All three nodded. "It's a stupid plan, but it could work sir." Sakura said.

Ibiki glanced at her. "You know? From what Zabusa said I expected more trouble from you."

Sakura's face didn't even twitch. "Sir, I've been... your guest before. And routine seven eight five... isn't something I particularly wish to repeat."

Ibiki drew back in horror. "I did what? Why would I do that to you?"

What the hell did routine seven eight five mean?

Naruto and Kakashi looked as confused as Sasuke felt.

"It was a mission debriefing." Sakura began.

"A mission debriefing? Why would I... how could I?" Ibiki looked utterly disgusted.

"I acted less than respectful." Sakura explained. "And the situation for the village wasn't the best. You were highly stressed and Danzo authorized you to use any means necessary to get information." Sakura answered quietly. "You were entirely within your right to discipline me."

"Danzo in control... the routine... it's a small miracle you are even sane." Ibiki muttered.

"That's debatable." Naruto piped up. For once Sakura didn't react to the dig, instead Ibiki did.

"You shut up, unless you want to see what that procedure really means brat!" He growled.

Naruto glanced at Sakura quickly. Then shrank back. "I'll be good."

Sasuke could only agree, if it managed to make Sakura behave... he had no desire to experience it. Especially since it seemed to disgust Ibiki.

"Well, can you tell me anything else about your world?" He asked Sakura, gently even.

She looked at him in something approaching confusion. "Why would you want to know anything about it? It's a shit-hole, full of monsters and madmen... well actually it's a shit-hole that has occasional monsters and madmen. Now that the population has taken such a nosedive even the monsters go hungry." She shuddered.

"Can you describe the monsters?" Ibiki asked.

She looked at him blankly, then shook her head. "Sorry, I would rather not. I don't think they'll be relevant any time soon." She glanced at Naruto. "If the knowledge should become necessary... I'll tell you all about them, before I kill myself. I'm not going to live through that again."

Sasuke shuddered, he really didn't want to think about what her world looked like to create that response.

Ibiki looked at her for a bit longer then nodded. "I guess that's fair enough... maybe you'll tell me when you feel you can? We might come up against something similar at some point and any hint could be useful."

Sakura looked at him then nodded. "I'll try."

He turned to Sasuke. "Well, do you have anything useful for me?"

Sasuke considered the question. Did he have anything immediately useful for Ibiki? He knew a few techniques the Fourth had developed over time, a few clan secrets they would really rather keep, some very useful info on Danzo...

"Well I know how to get at Danzo." He considered it. "Probably, if this world were anything like my own." Though considering the difference had been the actions of his father, Sasuke felt somewhat confident that Danzo would still use Orochimaru's old hideout. It had been given up, after Konoha had looted it, of course.

"He's breaking in his new recruits in Orochimaru's old hideout. He had the rooms cleared of rubble and all and simply moved in." Sasuke shrugged. "I also have a few more tidbits on the clans, a few interesting techniques of the Fourth, insight into the sharingan and am very willing to recreate my the clan. You just have to..."

Sakura's fist ended that sale's pitch.

"Why are you so hellbent on me not getting any?" He growled at her. "If you were interested it would be an entirely different matter. But I learn quick and you aren't, so why the hostility?"

"You are embarrassing us all with your constant lechery." She answered in her overly professional voice.

"And you aren't?" He growled back.

"Not in front of Ibiki, I'm not." She immediately answered.

"Oh, fair enough I suppose." He shrugged and looked at the amused man.

"At least you are making this slightly interesting. Zabusa made it boring and a struggle. Really wish the Hokage had authorized force on him." Ibiki sighed.

"Well, talking about that. How are they doing?" Naruto asked quietly.

Ibiki looked at him for a minute, before he shrugged. "The boy passed his examination with flying colors. Nobody here has any problems with him living in Konoha. Kinda get why you would want him here, really." He shook his head. "Too bad that he's a package deal. Zabusa makes the entire thing a lot less appealing. He admitted that he would probably flip out and attack random passersby in a few months. Too bad really, he told us about a few of Mist's rarer techniques."

"So they can stay?" Naruto didn't seem deterred by that last revelation in the least. Probably because he already knew about it.

"Eh, in security detainment yes. We aren't letting him out any time soon that's for sure. Well he does get regular exercise to make sure he stays healthy, but he'll be supervised the entire time." Ibiki watched Naruto carefully.

Naruto nodded with a sigh. "Figured it would end like this. Maybe Haku will find his place here, after he's out of containment."

Ibiki shrugged. "Maybe. In any case, he won't be out of prison until after the exams. If Orochimaru really plans to attack we can't risk having a security risk like him running around. Sorry kid," He didn't look all that sorry though. "But that's the way it is."

Grimacing Naruto nodded nevertheless. "Suppose that's the best I could ask for."

"Yes, anything else by the way?" Naruto looked at the ceiling for a while, clearly thinking. Suddenly his eyes, which had closed halfway shot open again.

"Yes! Kabuto, the bastard worked for Orochimaru!" He very nearly shouted. "He's..."

"Ugh! Damn that creepy guy. I'm still not convinced he didn't take up Sasuke's mantle and continue to create these freaking monster nin." Sakura spat. "He was such a creep. I don't know whether Orochimaru had anything to do with it or not."

Sasuke felt so stupid for not remembering that. "Yeah, the Fourth had Kabuto imprisoned and... questioned. Turns out he was a sleeper agent for Orochimaru, and before that for Sasori."

"Hmm interesting." Ibiki added it to his list of interesting things Team Seven said.

"I wouldn't advise anybody below Kakashi's level to engage him though, the guy is good, very good." Naruto growled, to Sakura's agreement.

Sasuke didn't know enough about the guy. The Fourth had after all imprisoned him rather easily. But maybe Sasuke had just not been made privy to the real difficulties in his capture. He had been rather young then.

"Hmm well, we are just gathering information at the moment." Ibiki muttered. "Anything else, or should I start asking questions?"

They looked at each other. No reason to fear the questions, but the more they managed to remember the better their standing with Ibiki and the Hokage.

Naruto opened his mouth first. "Well, there's...

-o-

Sakura stretched, working the time on that damn chair out of her muscles. The question and answer session had taken well over four hours and only one hour had consisted of them telling Ibiki what they knew. The rest were sharp questions about things Sakura could barely remember happening. Never mind the details.

Ibiki managed to worm a lot of stuff out of them though. Maybe he and the Hokage would come up with a decent plan. If not, kill everything without a Konoha headband seemed like a workable plan.

And if Danzo happened to cross her path. Accidents were known to happen in war.

"You owe me a fight." Sasuke spoke up, as he finished his own stretches.

Sakura blinked at him and shook her head. "No, you!" She poked him in the chest, almost making him fall over. "You, owe me a fight." She barred her teeth at him in an approximation of a grin.

He returned the favor easily. "Whatever, now?" Naruto's stomach gurgled loudly.

Sakura twitched, it had a point.

"After dinner?" Sasuke corrected his question.

"And some time to let it settle." Sakura nodded, she needed food and now. Water could wait, she had some on her anyway, even if many people would disagree. You could drink it, it counted as water, simple as that in her opinion. Though you mind need some poison resistance for some water.

"And I'm not interested in ramen, so excuse me if I have other plans." She nodded at them and disappeared in a flash. She hoped she would get to Ino before Sasuke managed to somehow get to her. Sakura hadn't spend any quality time with the young girl since she returned.

That would change today. She pulled her wallet out and grinned at its fat state. Oh how she loved the captain, he always looked out for his subordinates.

If only he would have let her show her appreciation properly. She had been old enough then after all. She wouldn't try anything now of course. She rather doubted she could enjoy it anyway. Stupid tiny body.

She jumped down in front of the Yamanaka flower shop. A quick look confirmed that Ino probably still had some missions to do. But Sakura could track her down easily enough.

She scrambled over the rooftops on all fours, her nose in the wind. Sometimes she envied the Inuzuka and their noses. They could smell as well as Sakura could now without any chakra enhancements. If they added those they could smell even better.

But in the end Sakura didn't have to worry about certain smells, so it canceled out.

Ino's scent could be found all over the building, but the freshest led her towards the Hokage tower. Just as expected, since most teams would meet there to save time.

From there the trail split, as Ino finished her missions and Sakura had to concentrate a lot to find the freshest.

"Not bad." A voice said behind her.

Sakura turned around. An Inuzuka stood behind her, the ever present dog at her side. "You after the Yamanaka girl?" She asked.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the woman and suppressed a growl. After a deep breath she nodded. "Yes." She frowned at the older woman.

"Not one for small talk eh?" The woman laughed. "No worries, she's on her way into the forests, gathering herbs. Just go in that direction, should be faster than following her trail, they have to get some containers first."

Slowly Sakura nodded.

"Oh and... girl how the hell can you keep standing, you smell as if have a distillery in your stomach." The woman frowned at her.

"Oh, that's my little secret." Sakura winked at her. "But thanks anyway. Anything that saves time is good after all." She waved and sprinted off, forgetting the meeting almost immediately.

-o-

What a strange girl, Tsume thought to herself she definitely used some Inuzuka forms in her sprint, but mixed with something more devious. She shivered slightly, no the girl just delved deeper into the beast than even Inuzuka.

She would have to talk to the Hokage about that, it seemed she taught herself how to access that state, or somebody taught her without really understanding what they were doing. She might also have to talk to Kiba, giving out clan techniques like that... and not even introducing the girl he was interested in to her... tch.

-o-

Sakura quickly found Ino once she entered the forest. It would have been hard not to find her, with all the complaining she did.

Sakura chuckled to herself as she snuck up on her. The carelessness of youth. Shikamaru gathered the herbs in a sort of bored serenity. He probably enjoyed himself, poor guy died in the first real war he fought in. Ran himself into the ground trying to protect everybody.

He didn't even notice her, neither did Choji, who somehow managed to juggle his chips and the herbs he plucked.

Sakura smiled at him sadly, he had taken Shikamaru's death hard... and died a week later, ripping apart several of Sasuke's creations.

Asuma looked at her with an raised eyebrow as she snuck towards Ino, who raged at the menial task she had to endure, but didn't say anything.

"Why me? I should be doing something useful, not pick herbs for some stupid git from the hospital! And whiiii!" She screamed as Sakura slipped behind her and hugged her tightly.

"Inoooo. I'm hungry!" Sakura purred into her ear.

"Aahhhh Sakura! Let go! I'm not a lesbian!" Ino struggled desperately, but Sakura easily countered ever move Ino made, not letting go for even a second.

"Ohh, come on Ino, I wanted to go to that great steak-house I know." Ino's struggles weakened a tiny little bit.

"I'm not going on a date with you!" She screeched and her struggles intensified.

"I'm paying by the way." Ino stood still almost immediately.

"I'm not kissing on the first date." She said. "No groping either."

Sakura laughed and let her go. "Are you sure you aren't an Akimichi?" She asked Ino.

"I just appreciate good, free, food. I think I know the restaurant... if it's pretty expensive?" She looked speculatively at Sakura.

"Yes and as I said, I'm paying." Sakura winked at Ino.

"And you know that I was just kidding with the date stuff right?" Ino asked, a little fearfully.

Rolling her eyes Sakura nodded. "Yes, yes. No kissing or other stuff. Don't worry, I'm not interested."

"Well good." Ino nodded. "Wait, why not?"

"Come on then." Sakura dragged Ino behind her, ignoring her question, until she ran into a wall known as Asuma.

"What do you think you are doing?" He asked, quite clearly amused, going by the look on his face.

"Taking Ino out for dinner, dad." Sakura answered easily.

"Well I'm not sure I approve of Ino going out with drunken strangers." Asuma easily countered.

"I'm not drunk, just slightly inebriated." Sakura joked.

"Well, you can still pronounce it, that does lend credence to you." Asuma rubbed his chin. "Doesn't change the fact that Ino still has work to do."

Sakura shrugged and handed him some cigarettes. "I'm sure you can do without her."

Asuma looked at the cigarettes in his hands then nodded. "You make a good point. Have fun Ino."

Ino stared at Asuma as if he had gone insane. "How? Why?" Sakura ignored her and dragged her along. "Don't question it Ino, just accept it."

-o-

"So, it there a reason you let Ino off early?" Shikamaru grumbled ever so slightly at Asuma.

The older man turned to his young charge and raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you wanted to listen to her complain?"

Shikamaru blinked and shook his head quickly. "Now that you mention it, this might just be a blessing." He quickly returned to his work. "But that you would be bought for that and cigarettes."

Asuma chuckled quietly, hiding his worry. How had the girl known that he was interested in Kurenai? And how had she found out that he planned to invite her to Takai Kuchini? No matter, he now had a reservation for next week. And those were hard to get... how had the girl managed it anyway?

-o-

Sakura smiled at the waiter as she stood in front of the restaurant, a smile showing of her full white teeth. And she did nothing more. She didn't give the man more than five minutes before he cracked. After all even as exclusive as this was, a simple reservation, even a week in advance couldn't be worth having that smile in front of your face for any amount of time. And she didn't even have to threaten him.

She just asked for a reservation and then, upon the expected denial, had started smiling.

"Ok already, fine you have a table for two in a week, are you happy now?" He pulled a pen out of his pocket and set it on the paper. "What name should I put down?" He asked, clearly afraid.

"Haruno." Sakura beamed cheerfully, not creepy this time just cheerfully. The man sagged in relief.

"Ok, it's a decent table too, since I don't want you back here anytime soon."

Sakura nodded. "No problem not for a few months at least. Oh and, since I know how much trouble this could get you in. Here's a bit of money." She handed over a large stack of bills. Enough to bite a little chunk out of her mission payment, but she had enough left to last her a bit longer. So she didn't worry too much.

The man looked at the money and suddenly he seemed all smiles. "I'm sad to hear that miss. If you and your date want to come back, you will be very welcome here."

Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't protest, the guy might be a greedy sleaze, but at least he didn't lie about it.

-o-

Ino looked around the restaurant, it was pretty nice, not great and certainly not Takai Kuchini, but then Sakura had to have trouble affording this place and here you just paid premium for the meat. There you paid premium for everything.

"So... how did your first mission go? I was kinda busy with Sasuke yesterday..." Ino asked as they waited for their food.

She had a lot of questions for Sakura beside this one, but she needed a conversation opener.

"Eh, went pretty good. We were attacked by a high class missing nin, but we kicked his ass and captured him." Sakura said.

Impressive, that would be... "Missing Nin!" Ino shouted. They had what?

"Well, three missing nin really, but I'm not counting the first two, they just sucked way, way too much." Sakura rolled her eyes dismissively.

"Buh?" Ino managed to say.

"Got paid for an A-Rank mission too, since this guy was that dangerous. And a nice bonus because our employer kinda lied about the mission. But really it wasn't that dangerous." Sakura held her hands up. "Not that I'm saying they shouldn't have pushed it up to A-Rank. I mean obviously the guy was a high class missing nin. But still, we weren't in any real danger."

Sakura patted Ino's shoulder.

"We..." Ino started to say. "We... we kinda went on a C-Rank mission." She finally managed to say. "Sasuke is so awesome!"

"Hey what am I? I fought Zabusa too!" Sakura huffed indignantly. As if she could do as much as Sasuke. "And I landed the first hit as well!" Sakura added.

"Oh really, what else did you do?" Ino replied haughtily. She knew about Sakura's smarts, but she also knew that practical applications of those smarts didn't come quite as easy as Sakura seemed to think. After all Ino hadn't done all that good on those either. Her chakra control might be excellent, only second to Sakura or maybe Hinata, but she still couldn't compete to the boys.

"Eh, stole his sword, which I have to show you by the way. The Hokage let me keep it for now. Also punched Zabuza around a bit." Sakura preened, as if that was such an accomplishment.

She considered the feat for a second. Alright, alright even punching an A-Rank missing nin was an accomplishment, punching him repeatedly did count for something.

"Fine, you are good." Very good, but if Sakura said the truth, and Ino prided herself in being able to read her friend, then how did she managed it? "But... how could you do that?"

Sakura closed her eyes for a second a huge grin spreading over her face. Just as a waiter came with their orders. Ino looked down at their plates. She had chosen a dainty plate, just enough to get full, but not nearly enough to gorge herself.

Sakura on the other hand had a huge plate of meat, slathered in meat and topped in even more meat. How did she plan on eating all that?

And a bottle of sake stood beside it. Another thing Ino couldn't imagine the reason for. Since Sakura shouldn't be drinking anyhow. But Sakura went after the sake first, right after tipping the waiter generously... and who tipped without paying first?

Ino stared in shocked horror as Sakura downed about half the bottle in a few seconds, showing not the slightest sight of discomfort.

"Sakura!" Ino squeaked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What? I can take it no problem." She waved Ino away. And started tearing into her meat. It had been cooked long enough to resemble charcoal by now. How could Sakura even eat that?

She looked at her own plate and decided that focusing on her meat would be better for her mental health.

She could hear Sakura savage her meal though and looking up quickly she noticed that Sakura used the fork and knife just a little bit hesitantly, as if she didn't remember how to use them. Which just might be the truth, she didn't eat with them all that often after all.

But Ino had a feeling that if she handed the other girl some chopsticks she would see the same slight hesitation. What made Ino worry even more however, were the constant interruptions in Sakura's meal. She would stop eating, scan the entire crowd, then dive right in. And she didn't try to taste the meat, she just gobbled it down as fast as possible. Though... not always, she seemed to try to slow down and enjoy it every so often.

Ino looked at her own meal, what had happened to Sakura? Sure they hadn't gotten along so great after her declaration of independence. But they had still maintained a friendly rivalry. Somewhat friendly at least.

This Sakura seemed interested in rekindling the friendship, but she acted so different. Ino could feel confidence radiating off her. But tempered, tempered by a paranoia she only saw in some of those veterans that came to talk to her father every now and again. They acted pretty much the same, always on the lookout for the next threat, even as they considered themselves safe from said threats.

Only, how could Sakura have picked up those habits? On this mission? Doubtful, she had started behaving strange way before.

Sakura didn't talk during her feeding session and Ino preferred to focus on her own meal anyway, so they remained silent during their meal.

Finally they both were done. Even at the same time, which disturbed Ino a bit. How could Sakura have eaten that much in such a short time... and where did she pack it all.

"Ahh, that hit the spot." Sakura patted her stomach contently.

"How could you eat so much? Aren't you afraid you'll get fat?" Ino asked scandalized.

Sakura watched her through droopy eyes. "Nah, I can simply work the fat out of my system, Ninja life is the greatest diet know to man. You should eat as much as you can while you have the time, get the energy for missions and such."

"Ugh, you're as bad as those veterans dad always talks to." Ino watched Sakura carefully, and Sakura's sad reaction told her everything she needed to know. Sakura considered herself one of them, one of those veterans... but why the hell? She hadn't fought in any wars, she was way, way too young for that.

"Heh, I suppose so. It was that mission you know? Just, some things... I don't wanna talk about it." Sakura lied, oh she did it well, if Ino hadn't experienced the strange behavior before the mission she might even have fallen for it.

Still she decided against calling Sakura out on it. "You said you wanted to show me that sword you captured." She said instead.

Sakura immediately perked up. "Hell yes! Come on! She put several large bills on the table and dragged Ino out. She saw the waiter quickly go to their table, but he didn't follow them as soon as he saw the money. Instead he grinned widely as he pocketed it.

"Just how much money did you leave there?" Ino asked Sakura, as the latter dragged her through the streets of Konoha.

"Enough that I can go there again in the future and be very welcome, their meat is awesome." Sakura enthused. Quickly they reached the Hokage tower. Sakura went straight for the lower levels. A guard watched the two somewhat warily as they approached. Ino wondered where they even were.

"Hi there, the Hokage said I'm allowed to take Zabusa's sword. Or well Kakashi said he'd ask for permission at least." Sakura greeted the man quickly.

The man glared down at her. "I haven't heard anything like that." He grumbled. "And I'm certainly not going to bother the Hokage because two genin want to get their hands on an oversized slab of steel."

Ino chuckled weakly. She hadn't even wanted to be here.

"How do you know about this place anyway? Even if you're right, you should just wait till the sword is assigned to you." The guard continued.

Sakura shrugged easily. "Eh, how about this, you show us the sword, and if I can lift it you hand it over?"

"No, now scram before I kick you out." The guard said evenly.

Ino tugged on Sakura's arm, they should leave now.

Sakura didn't budge however, instead she glared at the guard, who glared back with the same intensity.

Finally, after a good minute Sakura gave up. "Meh, the sword isn't word attacking you. Much more trouble than it's worth really."

The man snorted. "I would bet you can't even touch me. But we have a few too many geniuses in Konoha for me to make that mistake."

Sakura looked at him for a while then grinned. "Heh, hehe, Hahaha! Damn, great job you do here. I mean I could have killed you in the blink of an eye, but still great job you do here, better than most at least. Guess I'll have to wait like a good little genin."

The man rolled his eyes. "Just get out of here and be glad I didn't have you send to Ibiki."

Sakura stiffened immediately. "I'll be good, no need to send me to him. I really don't want to end up there!"

"Ibiki?" Ino asked. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place from where...

-o-

Karan followed the girls with his eyes. He should report them, but really. The only thing they did wrong was knowing about this place. And he didn't think that actually was a crime. Beside only one of them knew about it. The blond one had been dragged along.

Wait, he recognized the blond. Inoichi's girl. Which might explain how they knew about this place. Ino, that was her name, told the pink one about it and the girl wanted to show of her now acquisition. If she told the truth at least.

Nothing bad about it really. And certainly not worth his time reporting it. He could remember his own attempts to brag to his friends with trophies. Though most didn't end up in places like this.

-o-

"Well... that was a bust." Sakura muttered dejectedly as they walked away from the Hokage tower.

"You should be glad he didn't call more guards or send you to this Ibiki. Who's that anyway?" Ino asked.

"Head of torture and interrogation." Sakura shrugged. "Had a long chat with him this morning."

Ino had stopped still at that revelation. "What? Why were you talking to the head of torture and interrogation?"

"Classified information I'm afraid. I'm not allowed to talk about it." Which annoyed her to no end. Not that she would have talked about it anyway. Far too many people already knew about it, but the fact that she had been forbidden to do something. It grated on her, she had grown so used to the freedom the end of the world had offered her. Not that she would ever go back. The freedom just hadn't been worth the sacrifices. Still she missed it at least somewhat.

"Classified? What have you gotten yourself into Sakura?" Ino asked, Sakura could hear the worry in her friends voice. And just for that she would have been willing to give up every bit of freedom she had ever gained.

"Don't worry about it Ino. It's nothing dangerous." At least not any more dangerous than the life of a ninja was anyway.

"But..." Ino started, Sakura simply ignored the protest however.

"Let's go and train a bit. I have to make this meat settle. And afterward you can watch me kick Sasuke's pansy ass into the ground."

Ino squawked in protest. "No way, he'll kick your ass, he's so much stronger."

Sakura rolled her eyes. If she hadn't been the exact same at that age she would have slapped Ino upside the head. But the academy had sucked at preparing them for the real world. That had been supposed to be the job of the jonin, who sucked just as much at it. Damn them and their desire to coddle the kids. It just led to a metric shit ton of dead genin.

Not that the other villages were better. They either coddled their genin as much or managed to get the same death toll by killing them themselves.

Why hadn't anybody found an ideal yet where you didn't kill your own genin and didn't lose them on their first serious mission?

Sometimes Sakura thought the world needed to end and something new, something better should replace it.

Then she remembered that Madara said that it might have already happened and the current destruction ended up as the result.

So no, the end of the world wouldn't be the solution.

They had reached the training ground and Sakura grinned at Ino. "I would say we start training right now, but the meat is a bit heavy in my stomach. So, if you can touch me once in the next five minutes we start training together, if you can't I'm just gonna go to sleep. You can do the same if you want, or you can actually start training, so that one day you might be able to beat me."

Ino glared at her. "Who do you think you are? I'm the better one, don't forget that."

Once upon a time that might have been the truth, but after the first war, they had been utter equals, specializing in different forms of combat, which made comparisons difficult, but still they considered themselves equals.

Now? Ino didn't stand the slightest chance, she just didn't believe it yet. Even if she knew it intellectually.

And only having to catch up to Sakura would motivate her to improve herself. Motivation had always been her team's problem.

"Then you won't have a problem touching me right?" Sakura said, leaning out of the way of Ino's incoming fist.

"Heh of course not, just hold still for a second." Ino tried hitting her a few more times, but all Sakura did was lean back or to the side. Not even worth using chakra. Well, besides to enhance her reaction speed of course. Not using that would have been a bit stupid. This body hadn't been properly conditioned after all.

After two minutes Ino growled in frustration and tried to use her signature technique, Sakura had evacuated already though and Ino only managed to hit a bunshin with it.

"Graah where are you?" She howled.

"Behind you Ino-kins." Sakura purred into Ino's ear.

The jump the other girl made was just too amusing. Sakura broke down laughing.

Ino tried to hit her as she rolled around the grass, but even down here Sakura could evade the slow, from her perspective anyway, attacks easily.

A minute later and Ino slumped on the ground beside Sakura. "How... how could you dodge all of that so... so... gah!" Ino threw up her hands.

"As I said, I'm gonna kick Sasuke's ass soon. Now it's your decision to train some more or join me in my nap. I don't care really. I'll protect you if you don't want to improve."

Ohh what a glare, and what killing intent! It almost, almost managed to... well affect her she supposed.

"I'll train, and once I catch up, I'm gonna kick your ass all the way to Wind! You hear me Sakura? Sakura? Don't you dare go to sleep. I'll kick your ass you hear!"

Sakura smiled and slowly drifted off to sleep, Ino's shouting being a nice background noise. She had pulled out another bottle of sake and nuzzled it dreamily.

Soon Ino had enough of shouting at somebody who totally ignored her and started her training to kick Sakura's ass.

Sakura looked forward to the results. It should be entertaining... she would have to be careful though, if she beat Ino too much, she would just frustrate the other girl and break her will to advance. Only Lee and maybe Naruto could bounce back from constant failure. Most people simply reached a point sooner or later when they realized their efforts were futile and gave up.

She had reached that point more than once, and if she hadn't been too afraid to die...

She drifted off into an unpleasant sleep. She dreamed of the monstrous hexapods that were among the earlier and more successful of Naruto's…Uzumaki's abominations. They typically ranged in size between a large puma and a small bear, largely hairless and could shatter boulders with a swing of its paws. Any one was more than a match for most chunin, and they typically came in packs of around six. She had always wondered whether there was some sort form of numerology at work there, they had never gotten an answer one way or another before the end became moot.

Sakura still remembered the sap under her hands and the itch in her nose from the first time they had seen them. She had been assigned to Gai's team as a medic and lighting assault specialist, on a mission to extract a defector from Sound. They were supposed to "ambush" the team, kill three of the members and make off with their client and call sign Clasp.

Hyuuga Neji had signaled their approach 'with pursuit.' Before he could spring the ambush, though, they saw these beasts chasing them. One of the Sound ninja, a big guy that looked like an amateur sumo wrestler, stopped by a small stream to buy time for his comrades to escape. The huge man actually grappled with the lead one, pinning it to the ground. The hexapod's front two paws raked his back, while the hind legs tore at his ample gut. From what she could see, the wounds on his back were closing as fast as they were being made. The last she saw of him, four more dogpiled the man, and his screams still echoed in her mind.

It took the feeding frenzy almost two minutes to die down.

He had bought more time with his death than his struggle.

The last one doggedly pursued the survivors, a woman with vaguely shark-like features and a pair of swords strapped to her back, and the target half leading, half dragging their client along. Shark woman stopped.

"Raika, no!" The idiot man stopped, the young girl stumbling numbly into him, terror visible all over her face.

"Keep going, you idiot!" the shark woman, who had to be at least thirty, drew the swords from their sheathes and gave them a peculiar little flick, dropping small lead weights at the end of some wire.

"But-" for someone who set his companions up for ambush, Clasp had a great many reservations about leaving them to die.

"Get her to safety, and _don't come back!_" Clasp only hesitated for a moment longer, but then grabbed the girl in a fireman's carry and bolted.

Sakura never found out what happened to Raika, but years later she came across a badly mauled hexapod with the most peculiar scars.

-o-

Ino looked at her sleeping friend, rival? Whatever! In astonished disbelief. How could Sakura have beaten her so easily? She hadn't even paid attention!

Ino could have taken a loss, she could have taken it. But not like this, somehow Sakura had improved to a point where Ino couldn't even touch her anymore. How didn't matter, only that Ino had to get better. Maybe Sakura had tricked her? A genjutsu maybe, or something.

She would have to ask Asuma to train her harder, Sakura wouldn't get away from her. Even if she seemed interested in rebuilding their friendship. She didn't appear to be interested in Sasuke anymore at least. Which made that far easier... if only she weren't interested in Ino now.

Ok, probably not. More likely Sakura had just managed to break out of her shell and stopped playing the good girl.

Ino frowned, though she had never seen somebody go from good girl to weird alcoholic, super fighter... Ino sat down and watched Sakura sleep. Something had happened, something big.

And before that mission to Wave too. If only Ino could say what happened.

And Sakura hadn't been the only one. Sasuke had been affected just as much. Naruto too, he acted different as well, but it affected him much more subtly. He moved so much smoother and so much more confident. Ino would have called him attractive if he wore something beside his damn orange monstrosity.

Even then however he somehow pulled it off. At least somewhat.

She hated herself for it and would never admit it, especially where anybody could hear her, but she had actually imagined how Naruto would kiss! She whimpered in horror... no, that had been Sakura.

Ino looked down and saw Sakura shake slightly in her sleep, giving of a terrified whimper every now and again.

Slowly Ino approached her friend. Should she wake her up? After all if Ino had a nightmare she would appreciate somebody waking her up. On the other hand Sakura would definitely not like being woken by her rival.

"No, stay away!" Sakura whispered. Suddenly she screamed. Her hands shot to her face and held it, as if in great pain. "Nooo! It burns! Oh god it burns!" She screamed.

That decided it for Ino and she grabbed Sakura's shoulder.

She hadn't expected a kunai at her throat though.

Blinking Sakura looked at her, then at the kunai. It disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. "Don't do that Ino, don't wake me up like that. I might not be able to stop myself next time." Sakura whispered into Ino's ear as she hugged her desperately.

Ino felt her ribs protest, but she kept quiet. Instead she patted Sakura on her back, as the other girl burrowed her face in her shoulder and cried.

"Why? Why am I suddenly such a crybaby?" Sakura asked through her shoulder. "First Sasuke then you? Why can't I stop this?"

Ino didn't answer. She couldn't even imagine the reason for Sakura's sudden crying fit. "Shh." She whispered instead, slowly rocking Sakura back and forth.

Weird, how it seemed to calm Sakura down immediately. She snuggled into Ino, resting her head on her chest. Soon her breathing came regularly and her silent sobbing had stopped.

Ino lay down herself, her position had been somewhat uncomfortable.

She stared at her friend, what the hell happened? What was wrong with her? And could she wake her without getting her throat slit?

Better not risk it, Ino decided and closed her own eyes.

A few minutes later she fell asleep as well.

-o-

Sasuke looked down at the sleeping girls. He had been here for a while now. Long enough to see Sakura seek refuge from her nightmares. He had refrained from waking the girls, their fight just wasn't important enough to disturb such a rare moment of peace.

He wondered what Sakura had dreamed about. But he probably didn't want to know, considering her stories it would have been very unpleasant.

"Hey Sasuke." Naruto greeted him. "You didn't finish already did you?"

"Nah, Sakura fell asleep. I didn't want to wake her." Sasuke pointed at the sleeping girls.

Naruto looked at them and nodded. "They are kinda cute." He said. Without really getting it, Sasuke noted dejectedly. Did Naruto totally lack a sex drive? Here he had two cute girls cuddled up to each other and he didn't... Sasuke narrowed his eyes. No, Naruto did notice, he just repressed like crazy.

Afraid of rejection? Possibly. But then, why didn't he do anything with Hinata? Not the slightest chance of rejection from her.

"Ok, now that you are here, can you wake them up." Sasuke told Naruto.

Naruto looked at him with half lidded eyes. "You just want me to lose a hand when I wake up Sakura." He stated.

"Maybe." Sasuke admitted. "But you will grow it back! I can't."

"Your fight, you wake her." Naruto said flatly. So much for friendship, Sasuke grumbled as he picked up a stick and tapped Sakura's shoulder.

Her hand snapped up and ripped the stick out of his hand before he had even touched her. In the same motion she drew herself up and positioned herself before Ino. Sakura's eyes flew around the clearing, trying to take everything in at once.

A second later they zeroed in on Sasuke and the familiar glare settled on her face. "What?" She asked.

"Our fight?" Sasuke countered.

"Oh... yeah..." Sakura looked at Ino, who had woken up from her sudden movement.

"Buh? What's going on?" Ino asked.

"We are going to be witnesses to one awesome fight!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

Looking at Sakura, Sasuke noted that she didn't share Naruto's opinion. He tended to agree with her. Many people said that any fights Sasuke got into were a bit on the boring side, what with him using genjutsu to confuse people.

His highest level sharingan moves weren't really suited to offense as well. They were very useful in a team, to give the attacker an extra edge, but alone they were a bit underpowered.

He hadn't needed them yet anyway. And against Sakura he would just have to make her waste her high speed attacks as fast as possible. She could use it two, maybe three times. If she were really suicidal four. He doubted she would go that far. And this wouldn't be a slug match like her bout with Naruto.

Sasuke liked to think of himself as a more refined fighter. He used fancy moves, instead of brute strength.

He watched as Sakura slipped her forehead protector down, over her eyes.

Blind fighting eh? Useful, especially against the sharingan. And a bit beyond Gai's blind fighting as well. She didn't even use her eyes. Her nose twitched cutely... Sasuke shook his head, no he had a fight to fight. No time to think of that.

"You know? That's smart, really." He said. "But, do you really think I don't know any genjutsu not reliant on my eyes?"

With satisfaction he watched her tense up. Her hands flew together into Kai, but of course she dispelled nothing. Yet anyway.

He heard her growl silently. "Bastard."

Chuckling he began to circle her. She remained perfectly still, she didn't even twitch. No hint that she knew where he walked.

His hands flew into a few seals and he send a genjutsu her way. A simple thing really, it wouldn't even affect her senses beyond sight, but as her hands flew into Kai again his theory had been confirmed. She could "see" him performing jutsu.

Which would be annoying, he needed her to waste her high speed attack. But he couldn't dodge it. So he had to force her into attacking something other than him with it. Genjutsu were perfect for that, but without his sharingan he couldn't force her into a genjutsu. Not without her easily breaking out.

With the right timing he could possible fake her out in the charge and she knew it, otherwise she would have already attacked. But it would be risky, too slow and the fight would be... not over, but it would hurt!

So he circled her, as she stood still in the center of the clearing.

"I thought this would be an awesome battle?" Ino spoke up, clearly bored. He didn't take his eyes off Sakura, instead he used the distraction Ino had provided for another genjutsu.

He grimaced as Sakura escaped almost immediately.

"They aren't doing anything!" Ino whined.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it's disappointing. My battle with Sakura was much more awesome."

Hmm.

Sasuke turned his head, and as expected Sakura exploded into action, his sharingan spinning Sasuke let lose another genjutsu, this one fooling all her senses. His genjutsu self moved left, he right. And Sakura missed him by a width margin.

Even so, she managed to correct herself quickly and lash out with her foot. She caught his shoulder and send him spinning through the air. Grimacing he caught himself and renewed his genjutsu. She had a few more attacks before she had to retreat. His hands moved together and stopped as her killing intent ripped through him.

His eyes widened, his breathing stopped and her fists slammed into him, again and again. He barely managed to block half of them, before the barrage stopped, and he fell onto his back.

"Hahaha. Seems like your genjutsu aren't all that good eh Sasuke?" Sakura taunted him.

Groaning he sat up, bitch. Still, he smiled. He could see her chest heave, as she greedily sucked in air. Her punches were strong, and they hurt a lot. Much more than they should given his conditioning... that he didn't have anymore. He sighed. He had forgotten about that. He had gotten used to this body so fast.

"You were holding back." He muttered as re rubbed his chin. "You hit Zabusa much harder."

Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but closed it again. "Huh? No I didn't."

Blinking Sasuke looked at her. Then how come he still stood? Zabusa had taken quite a bit of... ah, but Zabusa hadn't expected extremely heavy hits. Even after his clone died he had expected Sakura to be weak. He probably had no real defense active at all.

Or her killing intent simply broke his concentration. If you weren't used to somebody fighting with their killing intent, as opposed to use it before the battle purely as intimidation...

Or maybe Zabusa just sucked that much. Who knew, he certainly didn't put up much of a resistance to Sasuke or Naruto either.

"Oh, you're pretty weak then." He could take another barrage of punches like that, easily. He rubbed his sore ribs and winced, as a sharp pain informed him that his ribs weren't just sore, one actually had been broken.

"Or maybe not." He admitted.

Damn, ok maybe he couldn't take another barrage like that. Sakura pulled out a kunai.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Sasuke asked uneasily. A knife would up the lethality of the fight considerably.

Sakura shrugged. "You can take it I'm sure."

He took a deep breath. She wouldn't try to kill him, she just wasn't that stupid. So, she used the knife as intimidation, or to disable him. His rib ached, but he ignored it. Sakura didn't have a monopoly on ignoring pain. And neither did Naruto.

His hands had flown into jutsu, this time Sakura didn't try to dispel it. It would after all have been useless. Instead she dodged the fireball coming her way.

"Yeah! That's more like it." Ino shouted excitedly. "Go Sasuke, go Sakura!"

"Why is he first!" Sakura shouted as she dodged.

"I like looking at his ass better!" Ino shouted back.

"I prefer Sakura's ass to be honest." Naruto disagreed, much to Sasuke's relief. He preferred the ladies as well. Wait...

"What do you mean, prefer? Do you like my ass?" Sasuke asked in horror.

Naruto stayed quiet for a while and Sasuke couldn't see him, since he focused on Sakura. Then the other boy answered. "Well I suppose you do have a nice ass."

Silence reigned in the clearing. Ino's giggling the only thing breaking it.

"You know? As much as I hate the two of you... if you decide to go at it, I'm watching." Sakura said.

Sasuke smirked, as his sharingan noted the slightest twitch in her muscles.

"What? No way!" He screamed in outrage and Sakura used that outrage to attack. Of course, the kunai going for his right leg missed by a mile. His counter attack on the other hand, succeeded beautifully and he ripped her forehead protector off her eyes.

Sakura stood there and stared at him for a second.

Then she ripped the protector out of his hands. "You win." She growled and turned away.

A second later she had disappeared into the forest.

"You couldn't have let her win? Or at least fought her to a draw?" Naruto asked quietly.

Sasuke carefully rubbed his chest and his broken rib.

"No, not really. I won't lose just to make her feel better." He growled.

Ino stood there and looked between them. "What just happened? And why did Sakura run? It's just a fight. And while she's gotten better, you are still way better Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled at her and nodded, though if Sakura had used a kunai in that first attack, she would have killed him. Only Naruto, and Orochimaru and Kisame and Madara and Hidan... you know the number of people who could have survived being hit in the chest repeatedly by a dull kunai was disturbingly high.

Why didn't he belong to that number anyway? He had to work on that.

"She's a sore loser that's all." And it had nothing to do with the fact that she just lost to a guy she swore she would kill. Nope, nothing at all. Not as if it invalidated her entire life or anything.

"I'll go and talk to her." Naruto volunteered, but Sasuke shook his head.

"Nah, I'll do it. I beat her after all."

-o-

Once again thanks to Slamu for reading over this.

Also for Zusvayo for catching anything we both missed.


	9. The other side of the mirror

Fragments

-o-

The other side of the mirror

-o-

Naruto watched Sasuke run after Sakura, he couldn't help grimacing slightly. On the one hand, he felt happy that Sasuke actually cared about Sakura, on the other... damn it, he was supposed to comfort his teammates! He had done it for so long, always trying to make other feel better.

And now, to see somebody else do it...

"What's wrong with you?" Ino asked suddenly. He had forgotten she stood beside them.

He grinned at her, rubbing the back of his head. "Eh, just being stupid."

"Nothing new there." Ino mocked him. Not that she wanted to hurt him, she merely thought he was stupid, and expressed that opinion. He glared at her, didn't mean he had to like it of course. But then, she had an excuse for being stupid, children generally were.

"It's just that I'm used to being the one to talk to my teammates and make it better. Lately though Sasuke took on that role." He explained to her.

Ino stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean, you are the one to talk to your teammates? You haven't been together for more than two months. I mean sure, you knew each other... kinda... before, but you weren't exactly friends." She rubbed her chin. "Though you all changed..."

He nodded. "Has something to do with these changes."

"She's strange... and strong. How did she become so strong?" Ino asked him, looking at him for an explanation.

He looked back, watched the fear and confusion in her face. "Pain." He finally said. "Pain and suffering. She's gained strength through that." He watched as Ino flinched. "There are two ways to power, time and suffering. Either you have the time to grow stronger, slowly." He looked at his hands. "Or you wade through suffering, forging yourself in the fires of pain."

Now Ino stared at him as if he had gone insane.

"Hey, I read that somewhere. Don't ask me where though, I forgot." He remembered the words because he was living proof of them.

"But where would Sakura get the pain to become so much better so much faster?" Ino wouldn't let up her questioning.

Sighing Naruto looked at her. "Can't tell you, at least not yet. It's classified information." He took great pleasure from Ino's widening eyes. And hey, it might even be true. Just because the Hokage hadn't yet classified the information didn't mean he wouldn't the next time they talked.

"What?" Ino muttered.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we can tell you soon." Maybe after the chunin exams even.

-o-

Sasuke caught up to Sakura somewhere in the forest of death. On the way in he had spotted Anko, who looked rather surprised to see the two of them, especially considering the last time they met, he had grinned at the memory.

Anko's return grin had chilled him to the bone however, she planned something, something evil. And he didn't have the little brother protection he had last time... oh shit.

He ignored that though, finding Sakura had a higher priority than avoiding Anko's revenge. He would survive that, and probably not loose a limb either.

Sakura sat under the roots of a giant tree, curled up around one of her ever present bottles, staring into the sky. Sasuke sat down on top of the roots. Also staring at the sky.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked softly, barely audible really.

"Just making sure you're alright." He answered. He could hear her grumble about it. Clearly not happy about him being here.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" She asked. "All I want is some peace. Some time to think..."

"Some time to wallow in your self pity?" He countered.

He heard her snort. "Yeah, that too."

So, insulting her didn't work. He should have guessed, she didn't seem too concerned with her image after all.

"So you lost, big deal. If you had real Kunai, if you had tried to kill me you'd have won." Maybe.

"I'm not so sure." She answered. "You are better than me. Always have been, always will be. And there's fuck all I can do." She whispered the last part, almost too quiet to hear. "I could destroy this body and it wouldn't help. Same against Naruto, it's all about you..."

He winced, he had heard that before, from his Sakura. The worst part about her words was the fact that she was right. He and Naruto, they had advantages so great, she had little hope of ever matching them.

He had tried pointing out she had her medical ninjutsu. But that hadn't helped, on the contrary, it had just send her deeper into her funk. Finally he had just hugged her until they fell asleep. The next morning Sakura had gotten over it. But he had no doubt she hadn't forgotten. And he seriously doubted this Sakura would forget either. And hugging her didn't seem like an option.

"Well... what about Lee?" He tried, tentatively.

"What about him? He's sweet and all, but he hardly is better than you and Naruto. It's just not fair. You two can decide the fate of the entire world, the rest of us don't even matter. We can just stand on the sidelines and watch as you burn the world."

He closed his eyes, what could he say to that? In this world, there were people stronger than everybody else, you couldn't change that fact. Chakra just made it a reality.

"I..." He started, but he closed his mouth again. He had absolutely no idea what to say.

"Just... just gimme some time... maybe a warm body to cuddle up to." Sakura muttered.

"Want me to break out Haku?"

"Nah, Lee will do."

"I'm not letting him close to you as long as he will get drunk of the fumes." He pointed out.

"Oh... he's fun we he's drunk." Sakura answered.

"Which is why he isn't getting near you. I don't want to have to explain to your mother why you are pregnant." Sasuke forced the images out of his head. They were very very bad.

"Not that fun, sheesh get your mind out of the gutter Uchiha." Sakura shouted back. In a much better mood though.

"Hmm, so who else? Want me to kidnap Kakashi and hand him to you hogtied, to do with as you please? Maybe Zabuza?" She seemed to respond well to perverted humor.

"That would be nice... maybe all of them together?" Sakura replied from below.

"So you want a harem of all the pretty men in Konoha?"

"Ohh yes... absolutely." He heard the grin there.

"That's a bit greedy don't you think? There are other women in Konoha after all."

"So? Just add them to the harem. I'm not picky." Came back instantly.

Sasuke pinched his nose, that would be one orgy...he forced the grin off his own face. Sound would probably invade or something, while the ninja were busy with each other.

"You alright?" He finally asked.

"No, but I haven't been alright in a long time. What are we going to do about Madara? Akatsuki? Pain is so much stronger... even with Naruto, I'm not sure..." Damn, she switched tracks pretty fast.

"We'll deal with that once the time comes, for now all we have to do is give Ibiki as much info as we can, prepare for the exams, train these bodies up to our old standards."

"Broken down, constantly hurting, barely functional and pretty much with both feet already in the grave?" Sakura asked him, definitely not joking. He winced, he hadn't expected it to be that bad.

"What do you mean?" He asked. And suddenly she stood before him, older and ugly. He gaped, her face could only be described as one scar, her eyes seemed to be whole, but everything else had been cut, burned, pierced and ripped off. Her arms didn't look any better, some muscle mass seemed to have disappeared as well.

"That's how I looked like before I came here. Believe me, I avoided mirrors like the plague." Sakura sighed and dropped the henge. "Not that anybody else looked much better, maybe Madara, if he ever dropped his mask, but maybe not."

Sasuke imagined her world once again. How messed up had that world become? Because of him and Naruto?

"And now I can't even say I could kill you if you ever got out of control again." She whispered.

"Well... you could train harder than me, you know with Lee and Gai or something, then you would almost have to be stronger..." He tried.

She snorted. "As if you would let me. Do you honestly think you could hold back?"

He winced again. She had a point there, neither him nor Naruto would probably be able to take her growing stronger, without trying to catch up.

She sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the training ground. This body does need some conditioning. And it won't grow stronger on it's own."

He nodded and pushed himself up. This hadn't been resolved, but she had pushed it away for now. Best he could hope for he supposed.

-o-

Sakura yawned as she pushed herself out of bed, the last few days had been exhausting. As soon as she and Sasuke had come back to the training ground they had started training. Ino had stayed with them and fallen unconscious roughly halfway through the training. Sakura had only managed to remain conscious through her superior chakra control, the application of various medical jutsu and the use of some soldier pills.

Ino hadn't accompanied them the next day, instead Kakashi had shown up and watched them train. After a while he joined in and trained his own sharingan with Sasuke, especially after Naruto told him how he had improved his sharingan in his time. Sakura had added her own tales there. And even Sasuke had some ideas on how Kakashi could develop his sharingan... now Kakashi had three paths to choose from, but Sakura had a suspicion he wouldn't choose and simply walk all three.

Only one more day until the exam started, today they would probably meet the sand siblings, if she remembered correctly. She had expected to run into them any day now, but it hadn't happened yet.

She slipped into her dress, quickly snarfed down her breakfast and ran out of the door. How did that meeting with the sand siblings go anyway? They had come across them when Naruto played with Konohamaru... had he even met the boy yet?

She didn't think so... A second later she stumbled over the boy, he walked around the village, looking a bit lost. He didn't look like the brat Naruto had trained in the use of his sexy no jutsu... that brat always seemed so happy, at least until Naruto disappeared. Afterward, he just seemed broken.

This brat looked neither happy, nor broken, more resigned.

"Hey you!" She shouted at him.

He looked up and glared at her. "What?" He muttered. "You want to suck up too? My grandfather won't do you any favors, just because you're nice to me."

Aww, how cute, he actually thought she wanted to curry favor with the Hokage by sucking up to him... she could have some fun with this.

Putting on her sauciest grin she sashayed over to him, swinging her hips quite provocatively. His eyes widened in confusion. "Uhh, what are you doing?" He asked, even as he backed away.

"Hmm I just think the others tried to curry favor the wrong way. After all, you are such a strong young man." She licked her lips. "I'm growing weak just thinking about your strong arms holding me." She stumbled and fell on him.

His eyes, already wide, widened even further as he caught her, only for his legs to buckle, throwing both of them to the ground.

"Oh, Konohamaru-sama, can we really do it here? Out in the open?" She asked breathlessly.

"AHHHHHH! What do you want from me?" He finally shouted, desperately trying to claw his way out from under her.

"I'm just trying to make you feel happy." She whispered, holding him in place easily, a finger trailing over his chest. "Aren't you happy Konohamaru-sama?"

"No! I'm way too young for this... and I'm not interest in... slumps!" He shouted, finally breaking free from her grip with surprising strength.

"I think you meant slut." Sakura pointed out amused, as she watched him run away, straight into the leg of a familiar boy.

"Watch were you're going brat." Kankuro growled.

"Cut the kid some slack. He had to escape that shameless whore." Temari sneered.

"Still he should apologize." Kankuro glared at Konohamaru.

"Uhh... I'm, I'm sorry?" The boy muttered.

"Sorry for what?"

Temari rolled her eyes at her brother. "Stop messing with him, that's entirely unnecessary." She glared at Sakura. "And I always knew you were a weak little twit, but this? This is even more pathetic than usual for you."

Kankuro looked at her in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about sis?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the girl, what the hell?

"Oh, I heard about her, that's all." Temari muttered, before she swatted Kankuro's head. "Let the brat go I said."

Kankuro glared at her, but nodded and prepared to drop Konohamaru, only to blink as his hands were suddenly empty.

He looked around and found Konohamaru stand behind Sakura, equally confused.

"Hey bitch. You and me, we should have a little chat." Sakura grinned at Temari.

Temari for her part stared at Sakura in something akin to confusion. "What just...?" She asked, but Gaara interrupted her. "Stop playing around, or I'll..." He tried to threaten her, though his expression looked a bit off to Sakura. In any case, she didn't have the time to bother with his useless posturing.

"Oh shut up Gaara." Both her and Temari shouted at him. Causing him to shrink back, clearly confused. Kankuro meanwhile could only whimper.

"Konohamaru? Could you go and find Naruto please? I'm sure he'll want to have a nice little chat with Gaara about the wonders of controlling his demon." Sakura ordered the boy.

Temari stared at her for a second, then shook her head. "We do need to talk it appears." She agreed.

"I'll kill..." Gaara started to say, but he shut up as soon as he felt the two kunai at his throat. Sakura and Temari looked at each other and grinned evilly.

"Shut up, you only live because we let you live, now be a good boy and play nice, or we'll need to spank you. And I'm sure Sakura here will enjoy it a whole lot more than you will." Temari scolded him.

Gaara merely stood there, holding his throat. "You..."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "On second thought, why don't you go and play with Konohamaru? I'm sure the two of you will understand each other splendidly." She grinned at Gaara. "And if you hurt the boy in any way shape or form I will hurt you. And Shukaku won't be able to save you from my wrath you hear that?"

Temari nodded pleasantly, though Gaara couldn't see it. "I agree, you go and play with the kid. You'll also make sure nothing happens to the kid."

Gaara shuddered, but nodded. Sakura patted his head. "Good boy. Shall we go?" She asked Temari, who nodded and took her offered arm. "I know this great little restaurant, we'll go and talk while we eat."

-o-

Gaara stared after the two girls, as they left him standing there, a hand still at his throat. Somehow they had both moved faster than his sand could follow and his secondary sand armor might as well not have existed. And yet he lived, his sister and the strange girl could have killed him easily, but didn't. It was... strange.

He looked at the kid they told him to play with. Kankuro stood there, frozen in terror, so Gaara ignored him.

"Umm." The kid muttered confused. "What happened?"

Gaara looked back flatly. "I... don't know." He answered.

An awkward silence spread between them.

"Sooo... what do you want to play?" The kid asked finally.

Gaara stared back, unsure what to say. He hadn't played any games with anybody ever.

But... "Do you know any games with balls in them?" He asked.

"Sure, I know lots." The kid answered enthusiastically.

"Can you show me?" Gaara tried to keep his voice even, but some excitement did manage to sneak through.

"Of course, just follow me. I don't really have that many friends, but there are a few I like more than the other asskissers, they might even be genuine." He took Gaara's hand and dragged him along.

Gaara fought the smile desperately, but it did steal itself on his lips. Nobody here knew that he was a demon container, so nobody feared him.

-o-

Kankuro stared in the direction Gaara had been dragged of to, then in the direction the girls had disappeared to.

"What? What just happened?" He asked nobody at all. "Did the world go insane?"

"Hmm no, no I don't think so." Some random Konoha nin said, grinning at him. "But this does shed some light on certain things."

Kankuro blinked at the guy. "Huh? What do you mean?" His eyes were hidden behind gleaming glasses, he pushed up his nose.

"Oh, nothing nothing. Just thinking out loud. Nothing you have to worry about." He waved Kankuro off.

"Hey, you know something, tell me or... where did he go?" Kankuro stared at the spot where the ninja stood a second ago. He had just disappeared, not even the faintest hint of smoke.

"I'm scared..." Kankuro whimpered.

-o-

"Hmm this is nice." Temari moaned, as she stuffed another piece of meat into her mouth. "You guys have pretty nice food here."

Sakura nodded, enjoying the meat immensely. "They are rather good. Now then, you, aren't from this world." She said.

Temari raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Neither are you."

"Heh, true enough. That leads to the next question, is Sand planing to invade Konoha and did you tell anybody that you are from another world?" Sakura piked up another piece of meat.

Temari snorted. "Pretty direct aren't you?" She watched as Sakura allowed the meat and shrugged innocently. "Yes and no. I had no desire to tell that idiot of a man, looking like my father, anything about me. Honestly, making deals with somebody like this Orochimaru..."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, but you may not have to worry about the idiot much longer. Orochimaru will kill him... well as long as me, Naruto and Sasuke, never mind the Anbu of Konoha, don't ruin his day too much."

Leaning back Temari watched Sakura. "So this is your past... or at least reasonable close to your past, for you to make predictions." She asked, just as curious as Sakura.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Hmm, you know something tells me this is very different from what you are used to."

Smirking Temari nodded. "You could say that it's, mirrored? Kinda? Leaf big and bad, sand weak and stupid." She frowned slightly. "Which is all kinds of annoying, let me tell you."

"I can guess, but hey if it makes you happy, Leaf can fall just as easily as Sand can, been there watched it aaaall go down the drain. Not pretty, really not pretty." Sakura grimaced, as she saw face after face of fallen comrades.

Temari twitched in sympathy. "So, your village fell as well, you know, before you used the sand?"

Sakura blinked. "Huh sand? And no, not just my village, the world."

Ohh, look at that reaction, seemed like Temari hadn't expected that answer. "Well, or at least the elemental countries, but I wouldn't hold my breath for the rest of the world, really." Sakura conceded.

"That... must have sucked." Temari understated quite nicely. "But how did you manage to come here, if you didn't have the sands?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Again what sands? And I used the sharingan."

Scrunching her face up in confusion Temari leaned forward. "The sharingan? But that's just a pretty useful bloodline limit. Not something that can mess with reality."

They looked at each other for a few seconds, then Sakura shrugged. "Well, maybe not where you come from, but here it can." She frowned. "And you constantly mention sand? I mean yeah it's pretty much surrounding Suna, but what does it do?"

"You haven't heard of the sands? Well... if the sharingan is different, then maybe the sands don't exist, it would explain why the daggers..." Temari muttered.

Sakura's eyes flickered to the dagger on her side, it looked a bit strange, weirdly ornamental.

"So, these sands are some sort of powerful artifact or something?" She asked, just to confirm it.

Temari grimaced and shrugged. "I would say so, yes. I don't really know much about them. Mostly Gaara worked with or around them. And lemme tell you he cursed them to hell and back." She sighed. "I only really know that they played a large part in binding the Kyuubi to our village. Not much else sadly."

Snorting Sakura held up a hand. "Lemme guess, the other villages got the weaker demons and Leaf got the one tail?"

With a sigh Temari nodded. "Pretty much yes." She smirked. "It really seems like this world is a weird mirror of mine. With a few key differences."

"So, did Leaf ally itself with an enemy of Sand and tried to invade?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Pretty much, it was a bit more complicated than that, but..." Temari fell silent as the waiter brought them some more meat and Sakura a large bottle of sake.

She remained silent as Sakura emptied half the bottle in ten seconds. "Kyaaa, that hit the spot. You want some?"

Shaking her head, both in disbelieve and denial Temari gaped at her. "I wondered why you stank like a distillery, but to pack away those amounts of alcohol, why aren't you dead yet?"

"It's a jutsu, I'm storing most of the poison, only a tiny amount of alcohol remains in my system, just enough to give me a pleasant buzz. Sadly the buzz leaves pretty fast as well, means I have to drink even more." She shrugged. "All kinds of annoying, lemme tell you."

Temari looked at her strangely, but then she shrugged. "Something to do with that whole end of the world business I guess?" She asked.

"Yeah, started drinking to stay sane... well, somewhat... a little bit... at all really." Sakura grinned sickly. Another awkward silence ensued.

"Aaaanyway, I came here through the sharingan, the guy ultimately responsible for the end of the world kinda felt guilty about it, don't ask me why, I didn't listen, didn't care enough to feed his delusions of martyrdom . How did you cross over?" Sakura asked.

Temari had an eyebrow raised, but didn't comment. "Eh, the guy who tried the same in my world kinda used the sands to create an army of zombies, Gaara, my Gaara with the nine tails, managed to defeat him and re-secure the sands. The asshole was dieing, but the dirty bastard managed to pull something in his dead, something bad.

"I still have no idea what he did, but Gaara tried to safe me, and he used the power of the nine tails to do it. I ended up in this body, back in Suna. Lemme tell you waking up in this body not knowing what happened... scary."

Sakura nodded, she figured it better not to mention the likely result of Gaara's actions, even a tiny hole in reality would cause untold destruction on the world from which it had been borne. That had been one lesson Madara had managed to force into her head.

"Luckily the dagger came with me, I don't know what I would have done without it." Temari added.

"You mentioned a dagger before?" Sakura looked at it with interest.

Temari glanced at her side and pulled the dagger out, showing it to Sakura. "Ahh, yes. Here, take a look." She showed it off with a flourish. Revealing gold and silver and several precious stones.

"Pretty." Sakura noted.

"And powerful." Temari smirked. "Not all that good as a weapon by itself, but useful, after you learn to use it. Which is all kinds of annoying in itself. Took me years to master it." She frowned at Sakura. "One of the effects is the high speed combat you saw. Kinda similar to your speed actually."

Sakura grinned. "And without the help of any dagger as well. Man I'm awesome."

"I suppose, but if I had spend all my time practicing that form of combat instead of learning the secrets of the dagger, believe me I wouldn't need the dagger either." Temari replied, her eyes glittering at Sakura.

Sakura shrugged. "Probably, I don't know how long it took you to master the thing." She frowned at it.

Temari snorted. "Long enough. I would offer to give you a chance at trying it out, but it's a wee bit too valuable to just hand over to you."

"Hehe, don't worry I'm not gonna sell it. I make enough money, I don't need to steal stuff like that."

Grinning Temari leaned back. "I suppose, still not handing it over. Not like you would hand over the secret to your high speed technique?"

Sakura shrugged. "Actually it's not that much of a secret, it's basically just the normal body reinforcement techniques used to a much higher degree. While at the same time protecting the body from the strain of using so much chakra. That's especially necessary in the eyes, ears and the brain itself. If you overload those you'll go blind, deaf and mostly likely dead."

"So kinda like the dagger, since if you make a mistake using that you'll probably end up in several pieces all over the desert." Temari added.

Sakura slowly nodded. "But you know? If you have come here... what about others? You don't seem to have a problem with Konoha, despite the invasion."

Temari shrugged. "You don't seem to have a problem with Suna, probably became close allies like with us?"

"Yes." Sakura nodded. "But... if you came here..."

Temari grimaced. "What's stopping others form doing the same?"

They winced almost in unison. "Ohh shit..."They whispered.

"Wait, you mentioned this Sasuke before, so you knew about others maybe coming through." Temari pointed out.

"Yes, but we all came back the same day, in the same place. I didn't really think about it. God damn it, I never even bothered thinking about the possibilities. I mentioned it sure, but I never actually considered what it meant."

Sakura cursed herself, how could she have forgotten about that? How?

Temari leaned back. "Well, I suppose it would be kinda hard to swallow. I mean three travelers? In the same place, at the same time? Seems like one hell of a... no, it's not a coincidence is it?"

Sakura shook her head. "This world... we broke something, when we came through... or maybe it had already been broken. Who knows how many people, from how many worlds have come through?"

"And if they are friendly..." Temari added.

-o-

Naruto stopped and stared at the most bizarre image he had ever come across. There stood Gaara, surrounded by Konohamaru... shit Konohamaru! Naruto had totally forgotten about him! He hadn't even met him, never given him the determination to become a great ninja, or taught him the sexy no jutsu...

How could he have forgotten about his apprentice? How? Naruto stared in sorrow as Gaara... played ball with Konohamaru... ok maybe not all was lost.

"Hey there!" He shouted as he walked over to the children... did Gaara count?

He looked up, instantly distrustful. Well, at least he didn't immediately go into full blown rant and rave mode.

"Who are you?" Konohamaru asked, a glare on his face as well.

"Who I am? I am the great Naruto Uzumaki! Loved and adored by all of Konoha. And lot's of other places too. I'm the great sage, the..."

"Who cares?" Konohamaru interrupted him. And he had trained that speech for weeks!

"You are really you cruel, you know that Konohamaru?" Naruto whined. "By the way, how's the training going?"

The boy glared at Naruto. "So, you just want to suck up to me eh?"

Naruto winced, he had forgotten about that little fact, without him the kid didn't have the determination to ignore those idiots.

Gaara glared at Naruto as well, why did he play with the kids anyway?

Turning back to Konohamaru, Naruto shook his head. "I've got no intention to suck up to a shrimp like you, maybe if you were a great ninja as it is... no." He snorted in the boy's face.

Gaara twitched, danger! Don't piss Gaara off, he wouldn't understand...

"Uhh why is he here anyway?" Naruto asked, pointing rather rudely at Gaara and eliciting a growl from the boy. "I didn't take him for the type to play with others." Unless you counted ripping them apart that is, at least at this stage.

Glancing at his new friend Konohamaru saw the glare he gave Naruto, so he glared as well. "Eh, this pink haired chick and his sister told him to play with us... they seemed kinda scary."

Gaara nodded, wincing.

"Oh, you met Sakura then." Naruto shrugged.

"She's your teammate?" Gaara spoke for the first time.

Naruto nodded as he looked at him. Now where was Ebisu when you needed him? Why couldn't he make an appearance right now? Then Naruto could defeat him, gain Konohamaru's trust and maybe even Gaara's. Since Gaara had apparently found a friend in the boy.

Still, since no Ebisu seemed to be appearing, that left only talking to Gaara. "Yes, she is... what did she do by the way?"

"She was awesome, his sister too. They were so fast, one second they stood there, the next they held their kunai to his throat. Just like that." Konohamaru piped up, earning himself a glare from Gaara.

Naruto nodded in response, and winked at Gaara. "If it helps I only managed to fight her to a draw, of course I also didn't use..." Naruto glanced at the boy in front of him, ah what the hell, he probably wouldn't understand anyway. "Well, I didn't use the fox on her, so she had a bit of an advantage." He shrugged, as he looked very closely at Gaara.

The boy had understood, instantly. His eyes grew wide and his glare returned, only to really heat up. Ouch.

"Whoa! You fought her to a draw?" Konohamaru stared at him in absolute awe. "Can you defeat the old man?" He asked, but Naruto ignored him in favor of Gaara. Who seemed to fight, to get his demon under control.

He quickly turned back to Konohamaru. "Yeah, I can defeat the old man. Tell you what, if you want to learn the secret to defeating him, meet me in half an hour in training ground 12. We should have enough time before the chunin exams. Oh... there are a few other things I might be able to teach you, but if you want to learn them, you need to show me mastery of the jutsu I'll teach you today." He grinned at the boy.

"And you should warm up, it won't be easy. Now off with you."

Konohamaru nodded eagerly. That, had been easier than Naruto thought it would be, he turned back to Gaara, who glanced after the little boy, with something... sadness maybe, in his gaze.

"Don't worry, you can play with him some more after the training. Maybe you want to learn as well?" Naruto asked calmly.

Gaara's gaze returned to him, as cold as before. "What do you want?" He growled. And a lifetime ago, or about 5 years, it would have scared Naruto, horrified even. Today? Here? Eh, he had fought worse.

"To help you." Naruto smiled at the boy, but you couldn't impress Gaara that easily.

"Hmpf you have no idea what I've gone..." Gaara started, but stopped as Naruto talked right over him.

"Your father sent assassins after you, everyone you thought ever loved you turned on you, well not everybody your siblings kinda didn't, but then they fear you, instead of love you."

"Temari doesn't fear me... not anymore." Gaara pointed out weakly.

"Huh? She doesn't? Say where is she?" Naruto blinked at him, hadn't he said something about... oh yeah her and Sakura had... attacked Gaara and won...

"Your teammate went to have a talk with her." Gaara muttered, clearly he hadn't found his rhythm again.

"Oh... that could be good or bad..." Naruto muttered, he wondered what the two were up to.

-o-

"Wow, I didn't think sneaking into a strip club would be this easy in Konoha." Temari smirked as she gave the very pretty boy in front of her a nice tip.

Sakura leered at the man as well. "If you can make a henge good enough to fool the bouncer they let you in, no questions asked."

"Konoha is all kinds of awesome!" Temari babbled.

"You didn't have something like this?"

"Nah... not this Suna at least... My old Suna had a harem though, I had a few boys handpicked for it!" Temari giggled.

Sakura's jaw fell open. "You what?" She shouted, though nobody heard it over the music.

-o-

"Anyway, the point is, I know what you went through and honestly? Your father sucks. A lot." Naruto sighed. "And while I know what you went through, it's not the same as knowing what you went through."

Gaara still glared at him, though maybe not as much as before. "You aren't scared either." He muttered.

"Well I know that deep down, you are a big fluffy teddy bear, that just wants to be loved." Naruto smiled widely. "It's just that everybody around you is an utter asshole, who hurt you deeply. I want to heal you." He glanced left and right. He swore if Sasuke showed up to steal the show...

But no black hair made itself known, so he didn't have to worry about that.

"By the way, that invasion your father plans? Stupid Idea, we know about it."

Gaara snorted at that, but didn't react otherwise.

"Sooo... anyway, how about we go meet Konohamaru? I bet you'll like my new technique." Naruto grinned at Gaara, but the boy didn't seem to trust him much. Naruto had no idea why, no idea why at all.

"Come on, not as if I would do anything here, the relationship between our villages would be ruined if you died now, no worries about that eh?" He looked at Gaara a twinkle in his eyes. "Also, while Konohamaru learns the sexy no jutsu, I can try and teach you how to control your demon. Your seal probably makes that harder for your, but there are a few tricks that make controlling it easier even then."

Gaara's eyes widened, but he forced them into his usual frown. "I'll come, and watch." He ground out, clearly interested but far too distrustful to actually believe Naruto.

"Yes! You won't regret it!" Naruto cheered and dragged Gaara after him. He ignored the sand that had sprung up around his hand, as Sasuke had pointed out a week ago, he could just grow it back if Gaara actually ripped it off.

-o-

Sasuke smiled as he strutted around Konoha, gathering adoring looks from all. One of the few advantages of loosing your entire family? Getting the sad orphan perk. Sure there was a lot of pity there, but if you managed to excel despite your loss of family, that pity turned into admiration.

Not without second thoughts obviously, but that's the way of the world, everybody out for themselves first and you second if at all.

"Hey Uchiha!" A female voice cried out, making him lean slightly to the side, to avoid the kunai thrown at him, from the other side...

"You learned to throw your voice to pull that trick?" Sasuke asked Tenten, who glared at him in frustration.

"Damn it, how did you do that?" She sighed. "Ugh, I don't want to face off against your team in the exams."

He slid beside her and hung an arm around her shoulders. "Aww, don't worry, we'll try not to humiliate your team too badly... really."

She rammed an elbow into his stomach. "No touching. And I'll count your reassurance as touching if you say just one more word about it."

Sasuke nodded and walked a bit beside her. "Is it just me or did you throw that kunai faster?"

"I've been training harder than ever. Just wait, soon enough I'll get you." She smiled at him, in a way that reminded him uncomfortably of Sakura... if you didn't count the desire in her gaze.

Sakura just wanted to hurt him, Tenten wanted to beat him... and maybe do some other things once she had beat him. Maybe he should let her win?

"Neji and Lee must enjoy having you go even harder on them." He said idly.

"Oh yes, they really enjoy it." Tenten replied a wide smile on her face.

-o-

Neji stood in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by a multitude of knives, far more than he had ever had to deflect, several had actually broken through his defenses.

He glanced at Lee, who found himself pinned to the ground.

"She's getting better." He observed.

Lee nodded from his position. "The ahh fires of youth have been ignited in her."

Neji grimaced, the fires of something had been ignited alright. Damn Uchiha.

"Maybe they burn just a tad too bright." Lee added.

Neji felt the hole in his robes, just between his legs. "Maybe."

"She's improved a lot in such a short time."

"It's frightening really."

Silence reigned in the clearing.

"Maybe we should make sure she gets Uchiha soon?" Neji offered.

"That might be... a good idea." Lee agreed, glancing at the knife embedded between his legs.

One of these days she would actually hit something...

-o-

Sasuke nodded, those two enjoyed a challenge as much as he did, they would really enjoy Tenten going all out.

"So, did you have breakfast already?" He asked her, passing a catatonic Kankuro.

Interesting, but not nearly enough to make him stop talking to a pretty girl.

"Hmm yes, but training worked up an appetite." Tenten replied. "But... I heard you already had a girlfriend? Don't you go out with Ino?"

Hmm busted and he doubted even he could get away with dating two girls at the same time. Maybe if they were best friends and shared everything, but not if they were virtual strangers.

"So? Doesn't mean I can't invite a friend of mine to breakfast. Besides I haven't eaten anything and my teammates seem to be absent."

"No missions?" Tenten asked, looking at him with risen eyebrow.

"Nah, since we came back from wave it's mostly... meetings, training and goofing off. We did capture a high rank criminal you know? Made us a lot of money."

"I heard. Zabuza. Impressive." She glanced at him, that desire increasing. Why? Why couldn't he have two girlfriends? Who came up with that stupid, stupid rule? It blew!

"Eh, it wasn't that bad. And we had Kakashi with us." Not that he did anything, but she didn't need to know about that.

"Hmm he is nearly as good as Gai isn't he?" She asked.

"As good?" Sasuke countered, but nodded. "Well overall I suppose as good fits well enough. Gai is a better teacher, while Kakashi fights better."

"Hmm." Tenten smirked at him. "Whatever you say."

"Sasuke!" Ino shouted and barreled into him. "You promised we would go train today!" She glared at Tenten and latched onto Sasuke's arm.

Tenten merely glanced back, pretending total disinterest. Ahh, it felt good to be king.

"And we will, I just need to get some breakfast." He looked from one to the other. "You two know each other by the way?"

Both nodded. "Yeah, we met in the academy every now and again." Ino said.

"I was impressed by the way you took charge there. You really knew how to handle social situations." Tenten complimented Ino.

"Aww, but I never handled the physical exams as well as you. The teachers always held you up as a shining example of how a kunoichi should be." Ino countered.

Ahh, and the sparks flew. Sasuke walked between them and he had some real trouble keeping the grin off his face, as the girls bickered.

-o-

"No! Taller, Flatter, Sexier!" Naruto shouted at Konohamaru, bringing back not a little nostalgia.

"Yes!" The young boy shouted and tried again. His results were better... if not by much.

Gaara meanwhile stared at the clouds, a thin trickle of blood running from his nose. The first sexy no jutsu had knocked him out. And he refused to look at them while they trained. He did however smile a whole lot.

Obviously he was too old to train. Naruto wondered why he felt the urge to henge into an ugly, green, dwarf but he ignored the urge and focused on his protegee.

"Better, but try again!" He shouted and Konohamaru immediately reapplied his henge.

"Hmm." Naruto walked around the younger boy. "At least it looks like a human this time. Still not nearly sexy enough. Make the breast bigger, but not too much, just makes it grotesque."

"Naruto... what do you think you are doing?" A female voice growled. "This is disgusting!" A second voice agreed with the first.

"Oh, didn't know you were training that here, sorry." Sasuke's voice added.

Naruto turned around, to find Sasuke, flanked by Ino and Tenten standing there.

"We wanted to train here. Didn't know the ground was already in use." He explained.

"That's all you have to say to that? It's utterly disgusting!" Tenten growled.

"And shameful, what will the other villages think?" Ino added.

Naruto pointed at Gaara and raised an eyebrow.

"What will the mature members of the other villages think?" Ino corrected.

Naruto sighed, he really didn't like this technique, but as Konohamaru had once demonstrated, it worked!

"Sexy no jutsu!" He shouted and before the girls stood a stark naked idealized version of Sasuke, go with what they like and it works so much better. No matter how much his pride hurt by doing it.

The girls stood there, letting their eyes wander up and down the body, before they went down with equal nosebleeds.

Sasuke stared at the henge and snorted. "Mine is actually bigger." He noted, eliciting a twitch from the unconscious girls.

Konohamaru stared at the girls in bafflement. "It works on girls too?" He asked, shell shocked.

Naruto nodded. "Of course, but... there's a danger." He glanced at Sasuke. A demonstration seemed to be in order and Sasuke was relatively safe.

"Sexy no jutsu!" He shouted again and this time he turned into his usual blond bombshell self.

Sasuke politely looked away.

Naruto stared in shock, what happened? "Why doesn't it work? You should be getting all grabby!"

Rolling his eyes Sasuke still looked away. "As if I could be tempted with a few bits of flesh." He snorted.

"Sasuke..." Both Ino and Tenten moaned, as they clawed their way back into consciousness.

Maybe he should demonstrate when Sasuke didn't have somebody to impress... two somebodies. He was worse than the perverted Sanin!

Naruto dropped the henge. "Anyway continue working on it Konohamaru. Ignoring others is important to focus your concentration anyway."

"What is going on here?" A hard voice rang through the forest. "You promised that we would train today Konohamaru."

Finally Ebisu showed up.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked dismissively. Maybe he could play his out like last time?

The man glared at him, though... maybe there was something else there as well.

"I'm Ebisu, Konohamaru's teacher." he growled. "And I won't have you teach him such obscene techniques."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Eh, once I'm Hokage I'll make those techniques mandatory!" He sneered at the man.

"What?" The girls screamed in horror.

Ebisu merely snorted. "As if you could become Hokage. Young master, would you really want to be trained by him! He was dead last in the academy!" Ebisu growled.

Naruto frowned, there seemed to be a little bit of heat missing there.

"Well he's still a better teacher than you." Konohamaru shouted back. Sasuke kept out of it for once, good.

"I'm the fastest way to becoming Hokage, you know that don't you?" Ebisu asked the kid.

"There are no shortcuts." Naruto pointed out. "You'll have to work hard for all your life to be worthy of the title Hokage."

Ebisu looked at Naruto, a tiny smile on his lips. Naruto's eyes widened, did he actually plan that?

"Hmph, maybe but he'll do much better following my advise than yours!" He grabbed Konohamaru's arm and tried to drag him away.

Konohamaru ripped himself free though and jumped back. "Sexy no jutsu!"

The transformed girl, just like the last time, was a real beauty. It seemed real combat situations brought out the best in Konohamaru.

Ebisu rolled his eyes and sighed. "Please, such a technique would never work on me."

"Harem no jutsu." Naruto grinned and send his clones at the man. He didn't last even three second before he joined Gaara in unconsciousness.

Sasuke meanwhile had his sharingan out and recorded every second of it.

Naruto glared at the boy, he even managed to hide it from the girls who stared at the sea of flesh in utter disgust.

"How could you?" They asked in unison, then looked at each other and glared slightly.

Naruto shrugged and dispelled his clones. "Eh, he's down isn't he?"

Gaara had joined the land of sleep and perverted dreams as well, judging by the new red stain under his nose and the perverted giggles... why didn't Shukaku come out to play?

-o-

Shukaku stared at all the naked flesh surrounding him. He could take over his host sure... but... how often did you have this kind of opportunity? Especially with a kid as young as Gaara?

No, he had better things to do than rampage around pointlessly.

-o-

Well, since he didn't come out, Naruto didn't need to put him into his place.

Which suited him just fine really.

"Anyway, this only works if they aren't expecting it... and you know they aren't actually in combat. I tried that once, the guy totally ignored it and went for the throat. Nearly got me too. I mean just look at him, not even a twitch." Naruto pointed at Sasuke.

"He's so much more mature than you, that's all." Ino cheered on her boyfriend.

"Let's go with that." Naruto agreed.

"Aww, then why teach it to me?" Konohamaru whined.

"Because it's awesome for pranks, and it shows me that you have the mental abilities to become a truly awesome ninja!" Naruto pointed out.

"Oh! Great, so I'm your apprentice then?" Naruto grinned, rival sounded good, but apprentice? He really wanted one. But nobody ever volunteered, no time he supposed.

"Sure, I'll make a great ninja out of you." He paused and considered it. "After the exams of course, have to go through them first."

Konohamaru nodded eagerly, then turned to Sasuke. "Say, can you teach me how to do that?" He pointed at Ino and Tenten.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Do what? I'm just going to train with them."

Yeah right, just because Naruto had a shred of decency and morals didn't mean he didn't recognize Sasuke playing with the girls. Bastard.

"Sure you are bro, sure you are." Konohamaru winked, as Sasuke started to sweat. And the girls slowly, ever so slowly turned towards him.

"You know? Now that the brat points it out..." Ino started. Tenten nodded in agreement. "I actually wanted to kill him you know?"

Ino pulled out a kunai, Tenten a scroll. "Why don't we start training now?" They grinned wickedly at Sasuke.

Naruto looked at Konohamaru. "And that's the reason I don't act like him, way too risky."

The kid nodded wordlessly.

Also, training under Jirayia had immunized him to sexual advances, he had grown far too used to them to react anymore.

"Still, if you watch him you should learn something. Meanwhile I'll make sure your teacher gets home, all evidence to the contrary he isn't actually a bad teacher, so listen to him while I'm not around ok."

Konohamaru nodded reluctantly, barely taking his head of the spectacle the girls made, as they tried to skewer Sasuke.

"Come now ladies, is violence really a solution?" Sasuke asked, desperately dodging the deadly devices of destruction.

"Yes!" Came the angry reply from the females. He should count himself lucky Sakura had gone to meet up with Temari, doing whatever, or she would have happily joined the fray.

Naruto picked up Ebisu, the guy knew what Naruto had planned and he wanted to know how he knew.

-o-

A few minutes later Naruto woke the teacher up and placed a nice cold beer in front of him. If he remembered correctly the guy liked talking over one better.

"Hey." He greeted the groggy man. Naruto stuck to juice. He never liked the taste of beer and he would be damned if he took on the vices of his teacher... well more of his vices than he had already absorbed anyway.

"Ah Uzumaki..." Ebisu greeted him, then his gaze fell on the beer. "My favorite." He muttered, grabbed it and took a deep gulp.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, what the hell?

"So, you seemed a bit strange back there." Naruto opened the conversation.

Ebisu chuckled, maybe a bit desperately. "When have we met Uzumaki? Before today I mean."

Naruto blinked and grimaced. Damn, they hadn't.

"You know me, at least enough to know about... well. You were pretty confident that display of yours would work." Ebisu pointed out.

Naruto could only nod. "Hehe, I suppose I heard about you doesn't fly?"

"No, no it doesn't."

Sighing Naruto leaned back. "You knew about me as well. And I'm not talking about me in general, you knew about that situation. It played out..."

"A bit too similar to a situation that should have happened about a month or so ago?" Ebisu asked.

Naruto nodded breathlessly. Had Ebisu also traveled back?

"I've had dreams Naruto. Dreams about teaching you, and about you teaching Konohamaru."

Naruto blinked, ok he hadn't expected that. "Nothing else?" He asked.

"Nothing I can remember with any clarity." Ebisu shook his head. "But you knew about that... and I talked with the Hokage about you, after you came back from wave, with a captured, highly dangerous criminal in tow."

Naruto nodded and signaled him to continue.

"Imagine my surprise when the Hokage told me any information on you is classified and I would have to ask you about it."

Naruto frowned, why would the Hokage leave that to him?

"I do have a pretty high security clearance you know? I do teach his grandson." Ebisu pointed out, clearly annoyed.

"Ehehe, sorry." Naruto buried his face in his juice.

"No problem, teachers seldom get quite the respect they deserve."

Naruto nodded. "Well, what do you want to know." He asked.

"Do you also have these dreams? If so, do you have any idea why?" Ebisu sounded almost desperate. "If those are of the future, then... do you realize what that means? If they are of the past... then does that mean there is a definite fate? And can it be broken?"

No, not desperate, afraid of his own abilities.

Naruto shook his head, even as he looked around, looking and feeling for somebody listening in, then turned back to Ebisu. "Not exactly." He lowered his voice. "I'm... well, I'm from an alternate time-line, or at least Sakura said so, she and Sasuke are from different ones." He looked carefully at the older man, who leaned back, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"Alternate time-lines?" He asked, clearly not believing Naruto.

Naruto smirked and carefully demonstrated a Rasengan. Oh, Ebisu recognized that, he recognized it no problem at all.

"How..." He looked at Naruto. "Different time-line?"

Naruto shrugged. "What you dreamed happened in my time-line as well. In this... I'm afraid I hadn't even thought about Konohamaru until I ran across him, playing with Gaara... geez that was strange."

Ebisu raised an eyebrow. "But why would I dream of your reality? Fate?"

"I don't believe in fate, we all make our own decisions." Naruto grumbled. He hated those losers subscribing to fate.

"But then?" Ebisu started again.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have no idea, maybe you just got hit by whatever send me here, you know a little bit of stray memories or something."

"That isn't better Naruto, I don't want to have your memories and I'm sure you don't want me to go through them either." Ebisu looked decidedly put off by the idea.

Considering it for a few seconds Naruto had to agree. "Yeah, that doesn't sound too good. You said you dreamed about something else?"

"As I said, nothing I actually remember." Ebisu said and looked at Naruto. "And you know it's strange, to talk to you like this. I remember you being a childish little brat."

Naruto glared at the guy, but he couldn't really deny it.

"But I feel like you are a mature, well more or less, ninja, who one day will become Hokage. Don't ask me how that works." He gulped a bit more of his beer down.

"Say, does the name Pain ring any bells?" Naruto asked slowly. Couldn't be could it?

Ebisu looked up sharply, just before he whimpered in pain. He quickly held his head.

"Ahh, that... my head." He groaned, shaking.

It took him a few seconds to get himself under control again, but when he did he stared at Naruto in something like... admiration?

"He... he destroyed Konoha. And, and you stopped him. You... is that... did that actually happen?" He asked.

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yes, that actually happened... maybe we should talk to the Hokage about this? He should know about your dreams, when you can even remember that."

Ebisu nodded. "Damn, I wish Tsunade already had taken the hat. I would be rid of this headache real easy then."

He blinked. "Uhh what? Tsunade becomes Hokage?"

Naruto stared at him. This, whatever happened was weird. Kinda like with Naruto, only with dreams? And certainly his reality.

"Let's go to the Hokage, he may have some idea of what's going on." Naruto stood up. He really wished he knew himself what was going on.

He sighed as he stared at the Hokage monument. Things were just never easy.

He blinked for a second he could have sworn he saw Tsunade's head on the monument. Wishful thinking. It would take a few more weeks before that head found it's way on the mountain.

-o-

Sarutobi grinned as he went over Ibiki's report. The man had found out more than enough from Team 7, to plan a very, very detailed defense against the invasion.

The only question that remained now, was how to approach it. Should they crush Sand? Should they make a deal with them before they planned to invade and have them double cross Orochimaru? Should they wait until the current Kazekage is dead and then inform them of Orochimaru's dead?

So many options. Luckily they still had time. The first two tasks would happen as planned, Orochimaru wouldn't kill the third until after the second task.

Somebody knocked on his door, quite insistent actually. He knew only one person who knocked like that. "Come in Naruto." He smiled, the blond might be different than he was just before he graduated, but in some ways he had stayed exactly the same.

"Hey! Old man!" He shouted as he rushed into the office. Yes, exactly the same.

"I've talked with Ebisu! Those dreams of his? They are totally the way it happened for me. Any idea why that is?" Naruto didn't even wait to be greeted back, to start talking.

Sarutobi sighed, respect and decorum would probably never come easy to him.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I have no idea why that's happening." He replied. He could see Naruto's face fall.

"Damn, then the only one I can ask, who would have any idea, would be Madara... or maybe Orochimaru. I don't think they would talk though." Naruto said, mostly to himself.

"Yes, I have my doubts about that as well." Sarutobi nodded and smiled kindly at Ebisu who stared in utter shock at the scene in front of him. "But aren't you forgetting somebody? Sakura knows the most about this time traveling business doesn't she?"

"Well, yes. But she's kinda scary." Naruto replied.

And Orochimaru and Madara aren't? Sarutobi wanted to ask, but caught himself, Naruto obviously wasn't serious, going by that grin on his face.

Naruto shrugged. "Oh well, I'll ask her tomorrow then. Maybe she an idea why it's happening."

The door to his office flew open. "Hello my good people." Sakura shouted, obvious even more drunk than usual...

"Aww he's so cute for a mass murdering monster." A girl from Sand squealed and hugged a flabbergasted Naruto. "Can I keep him? I promise to feed him and pet and him and..."

"Meh, I'm sure you can deal with him." Sakura laughed drunkenly at... Temari, the daughter of the Kazekage, they had arrived today.

"Sakura? Temari? What's going on?" Asked Naruto, fairly confused.

"We went out having some fun." Sakura giggled.

Sarutobi noted that Ebisu stared at the spectacle in even more confusion that Naruto.

"Ebisu? Why don't you leave? I'm sure I can sort this out. And close the doors on your way out will you?" He asked the poor man. Or the fortunate man, he could leave.

Sakura and Temari huddled in a corner of the room, sending shrewd glances at Naruto, who did his best to keep the distance between himself and the drunken girls.

"Sakura? I hope you have an explanation for... corrupting Temari?" He asked.

Sakura perked up immediately. "I can't corrupt her! She came pre-corrupted!" Sakura defended herself.

"Ok, why did you go drinking with her?" Sarutobi asked again. "And why are you actually affected by the alcohol?"

Sakura grinned, even as she rolled her eyes. "I can stop using that jutsu you know?" She grinned showing as little respect as Naruto. Of course, he let Naruto get away with that because he liked the boy. Sakura? He liked her well enough, but...

"And hey! Temari's from the future too!" She chirped happily.

Sarutobi could feel a headache coming, and not a small one. This one would turn out big, much bigger than anything he had ever had to deal with before... maybe he should send them out to collect Tsunade right now. Let her deal with this before it was too late.

-o-

And here's the next chapter. Veering a bit of from canon. Hopefully I can keep it interesting.

Thanks to Slamu and ZusVayo for reading over this and spotting as many problems as they could.


	10. Exam

Fragments

-o-

Exams

-o-

"Haruno, sober up!" The old man ordered angrily and damn, did Sakura do it. She seemed to spring out of her slouch and stood ramrod straight, staring ahead, face utterly empty.

"Sir." She said in a perfect monotone.

The old man seemed to be as shocked by this as Naruto, he stared at her in utter surprise.

Temari stared around in incomprehension for a few seconds, before she tried to stand straight as well. She couldn't just remove the alcohol from her system however.

"Sakura, what happened?" The Hokage asked kindly, now that Sakura didn't make a fool of herself anymore.

"I came across Gaara and Temari while walking to the training grounds. Upon meeting them I realized that Temari acted different than what should be expected of her given the current time and her experience." She recited in the same voice she had answered before.

"I ordered Gaara to play with Konohamaru and went on to interrogate Temari in an informal setting."

"Hey!" Temari slurred, but she didn't seem too bothered by it.

"In an exchange of information I quickly came to the conclusion that she found herself in a similar situation as Team 7. We proceeded to share information and attempted to relax, with the goal of creating a mutually beneficial relationship. I believe we can count on her and her team in the coming invasion. She might even be able to turn Sand against Sound, giving us an invaluable weapon." Sakura quickly spooled down, never blinking, never looking away from the spot just above the Hokage's head.

Naruto remained silent as he watched her. He had never seen her like this, so... professional. No emotion displayed, not even the slightest hint of them. She reminded him frighteningly of Sai.

The Hokage watched her just as worried. "That's... good to hear. Who are you loyal to Sakura?" He asked.

"The Hokage and all of Konoha." She replied promptly.

The old man nodded. "You can relax now Sakura."

Sakura didn't even twitch. "Very well." She answered, but didn't relax.

Naruto wanted to shake her. What the hell happened here? It reminded him of Ibiki's question and answer session. But there she actually had shown emotion, just not quite as much as normally.

"Tell me, who insisted you act like this?" The old man asked, resigned.

"Danzo." Came the short reply almost immediately. "He insisted the Ninja showed the Hokage the respect he deserved." 

"I see." Sarutobi sighed. "I... would prefer you acted like you always act around me."

She actually twitched there, just slightly, but she did, Naruto noticed.

"I... I'll try." She slumped slightly and looked at the old man's table. Still far too stiff though.

"That's an order Sakura." The old man sighed.

She slouched a bit more and her eyes actually wandered, but beside that nothing changed.

Silence reigned in the room, only broken by Temari's occasional hiccups.

"You didn't mention this to Ibiki." The Hokage finally said.

Leaning her head slightly to the side Sakura shrugged. "It didn't seem important. Danzo insisted my loyalties are with the Hokage, not him."

"Ah, I see. He enjoyed you acting like this did he?" Naruto could understand the frustration the Hokage felt with this, Sai had been bad enough, but Sakura?

"Actually he found this disconcerting for some reason and ordered me to finish as fast as possible." Sakura answered in her monotone.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her, did she act like that to mess with the Hokage? For ordering her to sober up?

The old man seemed to have the same thoughts. But, there seemed to be something else there as well.

"Say, you remind me of somebody. If I ordered you to go and kill your family would you do it?"

Naruto squawked in outrage, how could the old man ask something like that?

"Yes." Came the instant reply, no hesitation at all. Naruto stared at her, how could she?

"Damn you Danzo, you manage to break people so easily." The Hokage spat. "You are hereby forbidden from ever going after your family, or any family or citizen in Konoha. These orders cannot be lifted by any Hokage, neither by me, nor any predecessor or successor. Do you understand?"

Naruto sighed in relief, trust the old man to think of something like this.

"Yes, thank you Hokage-sama." Sakura nodded slightly, but she didn't look thankful.

"How do you snap out of that state?" The Hokage asked, weariness drenching his voice.

"Time, I haven't entered this state since Konoha fell, but it usually took me one to two hours to go back to my usual emotional state." Sakura answered.

"I'll be very glad once Tsunade finally arrives. I shouldn't have allowed you to enter the damn, exams." He glared at Naruto and Sakura.

"Ehehe, we wouldn't have come across Temari then?" Naruto pointed out.

The old man glanced at the girl staring at them all, grinning stupidly. "Maybe she would have come to me sober then?" He asked.

"Nuh uh. I found your kunoichi only strip club! I would have gotten wasted anyway!" She giggled.

"Is everybody but me a sex obsessed pervert?" Naruto shouted. Sure, he liked female flesh as much as the next guy, but everybody around him seemed to obsess about it.

"Yes." Sakura quickly replied. Maybe with a trace of amusement.

"Well, at least you can joke again." Naruto sighed.

"Joking?" Sakura asked.

"Just... shut up will you?"

"As you wish."

The old man seemed to find this terribly amusing, going by the smile he sprouted.

"For the record? I hate you all." Naruto ground out.

"Now now Naruto, no need to grow hostile. Still, we could use Temari sober, how fast do you think she can recover?" Sarutobi asked Sakura.

"If a medic nin can remove the alcohol from her system in a few minutes." Sakura quickly answered.

"Can you do it?" He asked her.

"No, I received only basic medical training." Sakura quickly answered.

"And yet you can filter the alcohol out of your system. What would happen if I ordered you to remove it from Temari?"

"I... would remove the alcohol from her system." Sakura said. Her emotions returning much faster than estimated.

"Any side effects?" The Hokage asked.

"None I am aware off."

"Then do it."

Sakura actually sighed and walked over to Temari, who stood as straight as possible for her.

"This will be slightly unpleasant." Sakura muttered and her hands began to glow, similar to Naruto's Sakura. How he missed her, always ready to smile, always ready to heal. This Sakura seemed reluctant to do anything but destroy.

Temari gasped and held her head, but whatever discomfort she suffered from seemed to disappear a second later.

"You weren't kidding, that is unpleasant." She groaned.

She turned to the Hokage and bowed. "I apologize for the display, I didn't plan on meeting you today, but Haruno... she can be convincing."

"I understand, don't worry." The Hokage smiled at the young woman, before he turned back to Sakura. "You seem to have a talent for healing, why didn't you mention that to Ibiki?"

Oh yeah, emotions definitely were returning much faster than advertised, Sakura grimaced at the question.

"I... hate healing." She said. "It doesn't help, destroying the enemy before he can wound a comrade is faster and prevents even more comrades from being hurt. One of the things Danzo and I agreed on."

The Hokage sighed, clearly disappointed. "You could help so many people." He pointed out.

"Not interested." Sakura growled. "I don't want to end up like Tsunade, a wreck followed by the ghosts of those she couldn't save."

Naruto growled as well. Her Tsunade didn't break down because she failed to save somebody, she broke down because he had abandoned her. No other reason. He could see her, shocked, broken at his disappearance. Somebody else to abandon her, somebody else to fall to her cursed necklace. Just this time it ran even deeper. He disappointed her on an entirely new level.

"Don't talk like that about her, it wasn't the healing that broke her. Or even her failures. And you know it." He told Sakura who glared back at him, but relented. "Maybe."

"Ermm I would just like to point out that I'm still here." Temari said.

"Ah, yes sorry for that." Sarutobi sighed. "I'm afraid Sakura's... eccentricities gathered some attention from more important topics."

"I'll say." Sakura grumbled.

"Well then Miss, you might be willing to help us against the coming invasion?"

Temari frowned. "Yes, even before Sakura revealed that you knew about it, it seemed like a bad idea. Orochimaru isn't the most trustworthy person. Not that many are in this world, but Orochimaru is worse than most."

"That he is, I'm shuddering to think what he's doing with those people he has in sound." The Hokage frowned as well.

"Yes, my... father however seems to be sure he can turn whatever Orochimaru has planned to his advantage. But then he's a fool here, far more than from where I come." Temari agreed.

"So, what do you propose?" Sarutobi asked.

"I'll make myself the Kazekage." Temari said simply.

Naruto wished he had a glass of water. A spit take seemed absolutely appropriate in this situation.

"What?" Asked Sarutobi.

"I'll assassinate him and take the seat. Or even better, I just let Orochimaru do it and reveal it just before the invasion. Then lead our troops against Sound." Temari explained. "That should get me enough clout to attain the position. I have the experience necessary and a few... other advantages."

"It seems rather... ambitious." Sarutobi muttered.

Temari snorted. "Maybe, but ambition is what makes villages don't you agree?"

"Ambition is what made Orochimaru." Sarutobi growled and Naruto had to agree.

"Just like ambition made the leaf. It's like any tool, with the potential for good or evil." Temari countered.

And once again Naruto found himself agreeing.

"I suppose. Of course, you'll excuse me when I don't plan on Sand fighting on our side." The Hokage said.

"Of course, hope for the best, plan for the worst. Just have a plan ready in case Sand does fight on your side and the fight will go so much easier." She grinned. "And hey, I'll have Gaara, that will really make things easier. Oh, by the way can you lend me Naruto for a day or two? I'll need to get as much info out of him on how to control a Biju. The more control Gaara has over himself the better."

"You are asking for village secrets you realize?"

Temari rolled her eyes. "I suppose, but I really want to make us far closer allies. Maybe turn our two villages into one village merely split up a bit."

Naruto stared at her, he had never heard of that idea.

Sakura seemed surprised as well. "Huh? Where did that come from?" She asked.

"We kinda planned for it back home. Never happened, there were too many people violently opposed to the idea. But here? It might just work, especially since we have several time travelers on our side, who I think can agree to the idea?" Temari pointed out.

Naruto had to agree, the idea sounded good. But it would shift the power balance dramatically. Two villages allied to such a degree. Even if Konoha weren't the strongest village, it would boost their power well above anything any individual village could stop.

"That would be an invitation for open war you realize?" Sarutobi asked carefully.

Temari nodded. "I know, but if this world ever wants real peace, we need to unite the countries. It can't go on like this. Squabbling over every little imagined slight."

Naruto glanced at the Hokage. He didn't think he liked this idea very much at all. Going to war, for peace... sounded like something Danzo would sprout.

"And there's always diplomacy. If they want a slice of the cake? Invite them in. The more villages you manage to incorporate into the alliance, the less the remaining villages will be willing to try. Marry some people off. Maybe a Hyuuga and a somebody from cloud? Should make relationships much easier all around." Temari said.

Even Sakura raised an eyebrow at that.

"Just an example." Temari quickly said.

"I'll think about it. But that... would require quite some time and political maneuvering. It's not something you can just implement." Sarutobi said, and his voice told Naruto that he didn't even really consider it.

Temari too. "Eh, fine. Mere allies then. Sigh, nobody ever thinks of the future of the world, always just our own little piece of it."

"Madara would disagree with you." Sakura smirked.

"From what you told me he's an insane madman. He doesn't count." Temari shot Sakura down.

"Fair point." Sakura conceded.

"But, there was something else Sakura and me wanted to talk to you about." Temari continued.

"Ah, and what would that be?" The Hokage asked.

"If I've come back as well. Then it's almost certain others have too. And while I'm perfectly content to work with the Leaf... others... might not be." Temari looked at Naruto and the Hokage, all traces of humor gone from her face. "And they might have more resources than we think. Maybe Orochimaru has come back and maybe, just maybe he has some even nastier things planned than we can imagine now."

Weakly Naruto nodded, that made a frightening amount of sense.

"Or Madara. Or Itachi... or anybody really." Sakura added. "Quite frankly? This is... frightening on all levels. Anybody could come back. Anybody could have a totally changed personality, with totally changed goals."

A weak groan escaped Sarutobi. "I... I can't deal with that. There's nothing I can do really. And... Naruto already found something else. Apparently one of our teachers had recurring dreams about Naruto's past. He dreamed what had happened there."

Sakura blinked. "Huh... that's strange."

"Any idea what causes this?" Sarutobi asked her.

But Sakura shook her head. "None, I... didn't really listen to Madara when he explained stuff. He tended to ramble to himself, and really he was boring in the extreme. And that's not counting the pain I was constantly in."

"I wish you would have paid attention. He might have mentioned something important."

"Me too, now. Hindsight and all that I suppose." Sakura shrugged. "But it's too late now. We'll just have to deal with it."

Naruto rolled his eyes. He wished his Sakura were here, she would have paid attention to something like that.

"I suppose so, still that does throw any plans we might have had into disarray." He looked at Sarutobi. Not that they had been included in any plans. There hadn't been a real need and they were a bit... alien to gain that much trust.

"If Temari agrees, we'll have Ibiki ask her a few questions." The Hokage looked at the blonde.

"Eh, as long as he's gentle." Temari shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose coordinating with him would be better if we want to pull this off."

"Yes, that it would. Now... could you please leave my office? Thanks to you I've developed quite the headache." The Hokage glared at them all.

Naruto chuckled weakly. Not his fault that things were spinning out of control. And hey, not as if he planned to time travel. Sakura had been the only one to do that!

Quickly they filed out of the office, hearing a relieved sigh as the Hokage slumped in his chair.

Naruto looked around. "So... what now?" He glanced at a nearby clock, not even six yet.

"We gather Sasuke and Gaara and drink some more? I mean really, what else can we do? Temari will be interrogated tomorrow, probably sometime during the exams." Sakura started.

"Yeah, could you tell me what happens for them? I doubt it will be the same as our exams have been." Temari piped up as they left the tower, through the windows.

"Eh, just a stupid paper test, and some survival training, should take a week, but with out skills we should have finished in a day at the most." Sakura shrugged.

"Oh, ok yeah that's easy. We'll have some fun with the real genin teams then?" Temari grinned, and she kinda looked like Sakura at her worst. The two might be sisters. Were all women this scary?

"We aren't going to drink. You two are horrible, you know that?" Naruto sighed, how they could get away with it...

"We are over twenty years old, we deserve some relaxation." Temari glared at Naruto.

"You are over twenty as well?" He groaned. "Not fair, why am I only seventeen?"

"Because you are a runt, deal with it." They landed back in the training ground, Gaara still watched the clouds, still with a very silly grin on his face. Sasuke had managed to exhaust Ino and Tenten and grinned as he laid between the two, both curled up on his side, sleeping soundly.

"Wow... he's nearly as bad as Kankuro... I mean my Kankuro." Temari remarked. "Kinda cute though."

Naruto walked over to a tree and started to slam his face into it. Why was everybody around him such a pervert? What had happened to the universe? It had been bad enough when it just was Jirayia. Now everybody and their dog, even the females was a perverted freak.

"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked from his position, careful not to move too much.

"Don't know, and Uchiha? You are on dangerous ground." Sakura said, her eyes narrowed dangerously at the last Uchiha.

"Hey, they curled up against me. I didn't do anything!"

"I'll ask them about that." Sakura promised.

Temari had walked over to Gaara and kicked him in the ribs. "Hey lazy, wake up!"

Golden eyes snapped open and glared at her. "You will pay, I had a good fanta..." Gaara, or better Shukaku blinked at the dagger at his throat.

"Now listen you overgrown Tanuki. You'll do what I say, or I'll decide to castrate you, is that understood?" Temari raised an eyebrow at the demon.

"You aren't strong enough mort..." Shukaku shut up as he felt the knife in one of the most sensitive places on the male body. He looked down. "I can regenerate that." He said truthfully.

"But it will hurt." Temari countered.

"You brother, not me."

"Oh, I can keep you around." Temari's smile really reminded him of Sakura's now, much more than before.

"I... damn you mortal." The demon growled and retreated into Gaara's mind.

"Pesky little insect." Temari sighed and sheathed her dagger. "Always trying to make trouble."

Naruto shook his head. Sakura at least acknowledged that she didn't stand a chance against the nine tails, if it ever got out. Temari didn't seem to realize the same with her brother...

"Don' forget you are the strongest. And Temari, unlike me has the equivalent of her worlds Sharingan with her." Sakura pointed out.

"She's a traveler as well?" Sasuke asked, his surprise clearly audible.

"That's right cutie." Temari grinned. "Too bad I'm not into sharing, otherwise I would have given you a try."

Sasuke stared at her in confusion. "You aren't acting anything like the Temari I know, just for the record."

Gaara groaned, as Temari pulled him up. "Of course not, I'm way better than her."

Sakura leaned against a tree and snorted. "I'm not so sure, I mean without your fancy dagger..."

Making sure Gaara had really awakened Temari turned to Sakura. "Shush you. You can only attack once or twice, before you have to rest a while."

"Whatever. But if the kids don't want to drink, then lets train some more. I'm bored already." Sakura snorted.

"That I'm all for." Naruto readily agreed. Better to do that than anything that could end up undermining his position in the village. He had worked for that position once and he would work for it again. But he wouldn't ruin it for cheap drinks.

"Great, then let's go!" Sakura shouted, waking Tenten and Ino, especially as Sasuke pushed himself up to meet her charge.

-o-

Kakashi stood before the Hokage again. "So, they caused trouble, yet again?" He asked.

Sarutobi shook his head. "It's far worse. The enemy might know our defensive plans and far more, he might have spies in every level, he might have dreams about our defense." With a tired shake of his head the old man looked at Kakashi.

"Something is going on Kakashi, something big. Temari, from Sand, the daughter of the Kazekage came back too. She's allied with us, or at least she says she is. But even if we can trust her. Who else came back?"

He looked out of the window. "And Ebisu dreamed about Naruto's past. If he can dream about it, so can others. What do they dream about?"

Kakashi felt a cold shiver run down his spine. With that sort of knowledge...

"Temari has an entirely different history, even more warped than Sasuke's." Sarutobi continued.

"Oh? What's her story?" Kakashi asked, he had to know.

"In her past it was Sand, that gained control of the Nine Tails. They were the ones who deflected an attack by Sound and Fire."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. It sounded pretty bizarre.

"But now she's on our side?" He asked. He couldn't really imagine her not being on their side if she revealed all that.

"She's on Sand's side, for us and against Sound." Sarutobi explained. "If what she says is true. Sakura seemed to trust her though."

And what an endorsement her word was. Kakashi sighed. "So, nearly no trust for her I take it."

"We'll have Ibiki talk to her... when was the last time he got to play with somebody anyway?"

"Hmm well there was that bandit a month ago..." Kakashi thought back.

"We should be happy, really we should." Sarutobi said. "But I can't help and think, the other shoe has yet to drop."

Kakashi couldn't reassure him, he had the same feeling after all. No matter how many good news he heard... or maybe because of the good news.

-o-

Team 7 stood before the academy, each of them for the second time.

Sasuke grinned, this, this should be fun. He would ace the test this time... and watch a few genin crap themselves in fear. Better than them loosing their lives though. If they could be scared as easily as Sasuke planned to scare them...

"Hehehe." Sakura cackled, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "This will be so much fun!"

Naruto didn't look much better. "I agree, this will be the best exams ever!" He exclaimed. "I haven't had an opportunity for pranking this big since... well ever!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the two of them. Maybe his plans would have to be revised? He could guess Sakura's plan. She wasn't exactly subtle. He could play off of that easily enough. But Naruto... he could be very, very devious if he wanted to be.

Oh well, he would see if Naruto even bothered to do anything. After all Naruto wanted to become Hokage and that meant he would have to become responsible... why the laughter then?

Maybe to drive Sasuke mad? Always a possibility.

"Sasuke." Tenten greeted him, as they walked past the door with the very weak genjutsu. They didn't even bother to acknowledge the chunin standing guard there. One look from Sakura had driven it home to them, that bothering them would be a bad idea.

"Tenten." He returned her greeting.

"And Sakura." Tenten frowned at the girl, holding Lee back. "Stay away from Lee." She warned Sakura.

Sakura merely rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Don't you already have somebody you like though?"

Lee, who had stared in adoration at Sakura turned back to Tenten, quite confused. "You have feelings for me Tenten?" His eyes widened comically. "I'm so sorr..." Tenten's fist interrupted him.

"Don't take everything at face value she says idiot." Tenten sighed. "As for you, Lee's too good for you."

Sasuke noticed she still sprouted a bruise from yesterday. Sakura and Temari didn't believe in pulling punches.

"Whatever, that's Lee's decision isn't it?" Sakura asked, all false smiles. She didn't have any visible bruises as well.

"Yes Tenten, as much as it pains me to disappoint you, my heart belongs to Sakura." Lee nodded seriously.

Neji glared at everybody who could potentially hear the conversation.

Tenten only glared at Lee and Sakura. "I don't feel that way for you Lee." She ground out.

"I know it must hurt you Tenten, but you shouldn't deny your feelings." Lee noted sagely.

A second later Sasuke decided that making Lee a very good friend might indeed be a good idea. After all who else could drive girls into kissing you deeply that easily, that fast?

"Or... maybe I should consider that you aren't hiding your feelings and indeed do not like me that way." Lee said after he watched them kiss for over a minute.

"Don't they need air or something?" Naruto asked, astonished.

"Nah, they can breath through their noses." Sakura sighed. "Ohh Lee."

"NO!" Sasuke and Tenten flew at their respective teammates. Naruto and Neji had acted even faster and threw themselves at them. Resulting in a dog-pile on Sakura and Lee respectively. "No kissing Lee Sakura!" "No kissing Sakura Lee!"

Came the double shouts.

"I hate you all." Sakura muttered beneath the pile.

The chunin and every genin in the room stared at them. But Sasuke ignored it, he could break every single one of them so easily, their opinions didn't matter, at all.

"That may be so, but let's restrain the mass destruction for the second part alright?" Sasuke asked, smiling sickly.

"Boring... but fine." Sakura pushed herself up and stalked ahead, clearly annoyed, but peaceful.

Naruto turned to team Gai, still busy disentangling themselves. "Well, see ya in the second exam then."

He quickly followed Sakura.

Sasuke winked at Tenten, who didn't react at all, and followed as well. Disaster averted.

In front of the door waited Kakashi.

"Yo." He greeted them. "Please, don't cause too much of a panic alright? We kinda want to retain relatively peaceful relationships with the major powers."

"No promises captain." Sakura grinned at him. "But I'll try."

Sasuke nodded and Naruto gave their teacher a thumbs up.

"Well, best I can hope for I suppose." Kakashi said, and pulled his little orange book out. "I would wish you good luck... but I think the other teams need it more than you."

And with that he disappeared, to do whatever he did when he didn't watch them.

Sakura pushed the door open and walked into the room. The atmosphere of excitement made Sasuke's hair stand up. All those hopeful genin waiting to become chunin... damn it really wasn't fair for most of them to play against them.

Sakura laughed loudly. "Man, just look at all those losers." She practically shouted into the room.

As expected most of them glared promises of dead at her.

"My, my, my. How bold." Kabuto said, grinning broadly at them. Sasuke's hairs stood on end again, this time because that guy just creeped him out to no end.

"Hmm and who are you?" Sakura asked, glaring at him.

"Me? Oh my name is... Kabuto." He grinned at her ignoring her glare. "And may I say that the way you got them to hate you instantly is simply splendid. If I were capable of it I would love you."

That caused confused looks from all of them.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Hmm oh, that? Sorry, but that is a secret, as my teacher loved to say." Kabuto waved them goodbye and wandered off.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked.

"He... didn't act like Kabuto at all." Sakura answered him.

"He was pretty creepy though." Sasuke added.

Sakura looked at him. "Yes, actually he was creepier than usual. And that worries me." She followed the strange boy. "It worries me a lot, because I think we found our first enemy who came back as well."

Naruto nodded. "And if he came back, then I would bet he knows about the surveillance on him."

"Hey! You little shits!"

They turned to the speaker, some genin from cloud, behind him another team from cloud shook their heads, his teammates also seemed reluctant to follow him. All around the room other teams seemed to anticipate his actions though.

"Yes?" Sakura asked calmly.

"Who do you think you are?" He growled. "Do you honestly think you can just call us loosers and get away with it?"

Sakura smiled, cocked her head and let her killing instinct lose.

The guy dropped to his knees instantly, actually more than three quarters of the room dropped to their knees.

Sasuke looked at those who remained standing. Temari he expected, Gaara... well he had to deal with his demon constantly he should be able to deal with this killing intent. Kabuto... after that display? Yeah he didn't expect him to drop. Maybe show some surprise, but not to drop.

Ino and her team had dropped, in sheer horror, as had Hinata and her team. Team Gai, already exposed to the killing intent managed to remain standing, barely.

The second team from cloud stared at them, but not in a panic or even fear... they stared in confusion, well two of them stared the other whimpered on the floor.

One guy from rain watched them with an amused smile and one girl from Grass shook her head and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Sakura noticed too, as well as Naruto. Sasuke would bet all he owned that those guys came from the future too. How many of them would be hostile though? Or neutral.

They eyed each other as well. Clearly getting the message.

Oh, how much fun this would be, great.

"All of you who can't even keep standing should give up now." Sakura shouted into the room. "You aren't cut out for chunin at all!"

Sasuke had heard several drops outside the room as well. He just bet a few chunin had just dropped as well.

Naruto shook his head. "Sakura, that's just totally unfair." He waited for most of the room to get back on their feet. The guy who had tried to threaten them stared at Sakura as if she had sprouted fangs and horns.

Naruto spiked his killing intent, it didn't come even close to Sakura's, but it still dropped over one third of the room again.

"That's the amount of killing intent they need to stand up to if they want to become chunin." He proclaimed and grinned at the guys who managed to keep standing. "The rest of you really should leave."

"Yeah, you really have no business being here. This game... well the players might have gotten a wee bit better than expected." The guy from Rain laughed.

Those on the ground stared in pure horror at team seven and the guys who were unaffected. Even Kabuto's team looked quite shaken. Though their leader merely grinned at his surroundings.

"I... oh god this is way too much..." The guy who had initiated this muttered. "I'm out, you hear me? I've had it. No way am I fighting these monsters!" He scrambled out of the room, sparking a mass exodus, as nearly half the room left, as fast as they could.

Of those left only a few didn't have... time travelers... or something in them. The travelers generally kept their non traveler companions in line.

Sasuke glanced at Ino, who had managed to push herself up after Sakura stopped sending out her killing intent. She looked as if she wanted to run and Shikamaru didn't look much better. Choji would go where Shikamaru went of course, but he didn't look very affected at all.

"Wow... that was... no wonder mom thinks we have something going on." Kiba had walked over and immediately started talking to Sakura.

Sakura blinked and gave him a one over.

"But geez you stink of alcohol..." Kiba muttered a second later, holding his nose he backed a bit away. Akamaru barked, both paws over his nose.

"This better?" Sakura asked, after she sprung a genjutsu on Kiba and Akamaru.

Kiba blinked and nodded. "What did you do?"

"Nothing important. But hmm..." Sakura sidled up to Kiba, running her hands over his chest. "Yes, I think I could like this."

Sasuke opened his mouth to comment, but Sakura merely pointed to both Ino and Tenten and he decided that discretion would save him some arguments that would surely be totally blown out of proportion.

"A... Naruto... do you really think we... we need to be able to stand that level of..." Hinata asked, in front of Naruto. He ruffled her hair.

"Ahh, don't worry Hinata, I'm sure nothing bad will happen to you." He grinned at her, then looked into the room. Or more precisely at the other travelers. Sasuke saw the demonic eyes glint in the light.

The others grinned easily, but they did shuffle their feet, not a little uncomfortable.

"At least if they know what's good for them." Naruto added too quietly for Hinata to hear. Sasuke had better ears though.

"Sakura? Could you stop molesting Kiba please?" Naruto asked, as he noticed where Sakura's hands had wandered.

"Why? I like her molesting me." Kiba said, grinning from ear to ear.

"See Lee? I told you, you are far too good for her." Tenten said, loud enough for all to hear. "She doesn't care about you. To her you are just another toy."

"I can live with being your toy!" Kiba quickly said to Sakura.

"Oh, I'm sure you can." She leaned in and whispered something in his ear. Kiba's grin seemed to spread even farther, as impossible as that should have been and Sakura walked back to team seven. Blowing a kiss to both Kiba and Lee.

"Ehem."

Everybody turned to the door. Ibiki stood there, watching the relatively empty room.

"Why do I get the feeling those who are still here won't be easily cowed?" He sighed. Behind him stood two chunin, both still pale from their recent experience in killing intent.

"Alright! Sit down you brats." Why did he look at them? Sasuke scowled back. Just because they weeded out the failures already? Honestly.

"Here are your test-papers. I'll make this short. Cheat and you are docked points. You have ten points, every time you cheat you loose a point. Every wrong question? You loose a point. Loose all ten and you are out." He glanced into the round. Probably not finding what he searched for. Sure a few genin were terrified. But most of those seemed to be bothered more by Sakura, than by him.

"There will be a final question. It will be revealed after one hour." He looked around again and sighed. "Get started already. I want to get this over with. You are already whittled down to a decent size, so it doesn't matter much to me anymore." 

-o-

Sakura twitched. Kabuto sat behind her, and since the beginning of the damn exam he had done nothing but snipe her with small bullets of paper. He seemed to enjoy hitting her with them, but she couldn't feel the slightest bit of killing intent from him. She could feel more from Neji, on the other side of the room!

Another pellet hit her. "Alright!" She roared, pushed her chair back and whirled around at Kabuto. "What's your major defect freak? Do you want me to rip you to shreds?"

"Would you? I think it would be very entertaining to see you try... you remind me of somebody you know? She always played so nice with my teacher. Also had that fiery temper. Though her blond idiot was... well much more of an idiot than yours is." Kabuto replied cheerfully.

"Haruno! Put him down." Ibiki roared, but Sakura didn't care. "Who are you?" She growled, nose to nose now.

"Oh, come now I'm just a simple medic nin." Kabuto lied through his teeth.

"I know you work for Orochimaru." She whispered to him.

"Me? Work for him? No... well yes... but no." Kabuto hadn't stopped grinning, at all. "I'm merely playing a game with him, just like you are playing a game with me."

Sakura felt a headache coming on. Why did she see a similar scene play out? Just with a redhead and a similar smiling freak? With purple hair?

"Haruno! Put him down already!" Ibiki growled behind her.

"Fine." She spat and let go.

"Oh, we are done playing already?" Kabuto sighed. "And I had so much fun."

"Shut up." Ibiki grunted. "Four points from you Haruno. Listen to your orders next time."

Sakura glared but nodded and turned back to her paper. Somehow she didn't think Kabuto worked for Orochimaru. Maybe their plans intersected at the moment. But the second he had no more use for Orochimaru, Kabuto would drop him, no questions asked.

She quickly finished the paper and turned it around. She had been tempted to keep it empty, but she would just be bored if she did that.

Half an hour later Sakura could murder somebody. Kabuto had gone back to bombarding her with his paper pellets, who had the bright idea to sit him down behind her anyway? And she couldn't do anything!

Ohh somebody would pay.

She looked around the room. Strange, just how many people had traveled back, or to here at least.

What made this world so special? She tried to remember anything Madara might have said about this, but only one thing stood out.

The barriers between the worlds might be weakened by them traveling back. So other travelers would find it easier to come here too. Maybe that was all, this had turned into some sort of beacon for time travelers.

"Time's up." Ibiki shouted, looking into the round. Most people had calmed down by now and his gaze was met with polite interest.

He sighed. "You all fail." He told them quite seriously, if she didn't have her experience she might even have believed him. A quick glance around revealed that nobody believed him.

"Right, lets skip the tenth question. You all already know the answer. Congratulation you passed the first round." He glared at Sakura. "You took all the fun out of this one you know?"

The Rain guy piped up. "Ahh, don't blame her. I was just waiting for a moment to scare the small fry away." He winked at Sakura, and she had to admit, the guy looked pretty handsome.

"If you say so." Sighing Ibiki took a step back, barely avoiding Anko's banner.

"It's too early to celebrate!" Anko shouted. "Cause now you are in my hands!" Cackling, she took the young genin in.

"Anko!" Sasuke shouted and launched himself at her. "Let's never be apart again!"

"Gah! Who invited the little freak in? Get him off, get him off!" Anko tried to dislodge Sasuke, but he kept his face firmly planted in her chest. Until Ino and Tenten grabbed his arms and dragged him off Anko that is.

"Thanks, you get bonus points for that one ladies." Anko panted. "I really hate you, you know that kid?" She added for Sasuke's benefit.

"Aww, but I love you Anko." Sasuke replied, his lower lip quivering in a perfect display of despair.

Anko stared for a few seconds then turned away. "Ok, err... the numbers have been cut pretty well, but umm I'll cut them even more, at least by half! You hear me?"

Nobody commented, they didn't need to. The grins on everybody's faces told it all.

"I'll kill you Uchiha." Anko growled and jumped out of the window. "Just follow me!" She shouted back.

"What was that about Sasuke?" Ino growled angrily.

"Messing with big sis." Came his reply instantly.

Sakura appeared behind Ino. "Just ignore him, he's a total manslut."

"Just like you are a total slut?" Tenten sniped at her.

Sakura considered the question for a second then nodded. "I suppose so, yes." 

"Can we just go now?" Naruto asked. "I'm embarrassed to be in the same room as you two."

Sakura snorted at him. "Payback's a bitch. Now you know how I felt whenever I entered the same room as you."

"I suppose that's true." He sighed. "But I hoped you would realize that the cycle of revenge is a bad thing."

Sakura stared at him and shook her head. Sure that cycle had destroyed her world, but that didn't go for minor things like embarrassment. Unless she was the one embarrassed of course.

"Nah, but you are right, lets just get out of here. We have places to be." She looked around. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Went ahead, following Ino and Tenten." Naruto shrugged.

-o-

Naruto looked at the forest. Here it had all started, here Orochimaru had initiated Sasuke's descent into madness.

This time it would be different. He glanced at Kabuto, he glanced at Temari. He looked at the other travelers.

Different indeed. He couldn't predict what would happen at all. And the worst part? He couldn't even be sure Orochimaru would be Orochimaru. Or if he would even be here... well, maybe there was one way to check. Anko had just started going into her spiel about danger, dead and non-liability.

One chicken impersonation later a tongue held Anko's kunai out for her. So Orochimaru had indeed infiltrated the exams.

Naruto frowned slightly, he had killed the partner of that Rain guy... maybe he should get the guys name? He seemed alright.

"Ok, get in there and... don't die!" Anko grinned at them. "Unless your name is Uchiha, then you are ordered to die in there!" She glared at Sasuke who grinned back impudently.

"No promises."

After they received their scrolls they quickly went into the forest and hid themselves.

Naruto looked at his teammates. "So, what now?"

Sakura looked back. "I... honestly have no idea. I didn't expect so many people to be travelers like us."

Sasuke nodded. "I didn't expect anybody but Temari to be honestly. I mean who could have guessed?"

"Yes, the question is of course on which side are they? Our? Orochimaru's? Their own?" Naruto sighed, he hated politics. But he needed to understand them to become Hokage, what a mess.

"Oh I'm on my own side. I mean back home I was on a much bigger side than this little struggle here, but well for now those sides are all back home." Kabuto cheerfully said.

All members of team seven stared at him. "From where did you come?" Sakura asked dangerously.

Sasuke stared in total shock, he should have heard the guy show up.

"Me? Oh, I just followed you, really." Kabuto replied.

Naruto growled, he really wanted to wipe that smirk of his face... it somehow seemed worse than his normal smile.

"What do you want?" He growled.

"What I want? Well... I dunno what do you think I want. I mean information isn't free."

"Somehow I don't think you have Orochimaru's best interest at heart." Sakura growled.

"Oh, of course not. Never had really, even before I took over this body, the previous inhabitant had his own plans." He licked his lips. "He really didn't like me ripping his memories out of his head and make them my own."

Naruto really wished Kabuto hadn't said that, he really didn't want to hear that he essentially killed the self that had inhabited this body.

Sasuke also seemed to dislike that revelation. Sakura, of course, didn't seem bothered at all. She probably didn't care in the slightest.

"Oh, he fought very well, but in the end I was far too strong for him to really stand a chance." Kabuto grinned. He hadn't stopped grinning since they met, his eyes half closed, it seemed etched onto his face.

"So, what do you want from us?" Sakura asked, clearly frustrated.

"Hmm, you seem to all be from... well a different world." Kabuto mused. "I'm curios about your plans, as far as I can tell Konoha is the only Village to have four travelers. Cloud only had two I could confirm." He paused. "Of course, they could have more hidden back home."

"And why would we tell you our plans?" Naruto asked, he really would have liked to just kill Kabuto, but something told him that would be a phenomenally bad idea.

"Why? Oh... well I could give you the location of a lot more of Orochimaru's bases for one. I don't really care. Then there are all the techniques I could teach you." He seemed very pleased with himself.

"Eh, we know enough techniques and I bet we could find enough information in his bases if we hurried it up." Sasuke shrugged.

Kabuto seemed really crestfallen at that. "Oh, I suppose that's true... oh well, thanks for the plans anyway." He groped Sakura and disappeared into thin air.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at the spot he had just vacated, then at Sakura.

Her left eye twitched. "And he didn't even buy me diner... bastard." She growled.

Naruto face-palmed of course.

"Well, we didn't tell him anything he wouldn't have guessed anyway." Sasuke shrugged.

"True, lets go. We have a snake to meet... if he's even still here." Naruto sighed.

Sakura nodded, a strange smile on her face. "Hmm yes, we have to meet him here don't we?"

"We can't beat him, he's not like Zabuza..." Naruto quickly pointed out.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course he isn't... but I think we could take him."

Raising an eyebrow Naruto looked at Sakura. "Really? You think so?"

"Well... we would probably all die, but yeah we could take him down." She shrugged.

"Yeaaaah... no." Naruto nixed that idea. Sasuke nodded quickly.

"I have no desire to die today, just to take Orochimaru down." He agreed.

"I didn't say we had to take him, just that we could!" Sakura defended herself, as they walked through the forest. "Think we'll meet one of the others?" She asked.

"Maybe, hopefully they'll be friendly." Sasuke said.

"Meh, I wanna see how strong they are... we were pretty strong, but will they be? Or will they be incredibly smart... I mean power doesn't have to be the only thing that lets you break reality. Maybe some sort of time travel machine?" Sakura wondered.

"Ehhhh, maybe, but it can't be that easy can it?" Naruto added. "I mean, how would they find this world? Wouldn't they end up in their own world?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Then what about all the people that ended up here? They should have ended up in worlds more appropriate for them."

"Point..." Naruto sighed. "Ugh this is giving me a headache, and I haven't even started thinking about it."

"Kukuku." Somebody laughed above them.

"Orochimaru!" Sakura squealed. "You have no idea how glad I am too see you!"

Something in Naruto's head screeched to a halt. His headache grew several magnitudes. Sasuke looked as if his world had been turned upside down and Orochimaru... stared at Sakura as if he had just been punched in the face.

"That... hurt! Physically!" He groaned as Sakura burst out into laughter.

"Your faces! Priceless!" She managed to shout out during gales of laughter. She actually had lost balance and rolled all over the forest floor.

"You realize, I hate you." Naruto glared at her, but she ignored him in favor of laughing herself to death.

"Ugh, I can't believe she did that." Sasuke whimpered.

"I can't believe I didn't think of it!" Naruto wailed. It would have been the ultimate prank on his team. Even Sakura would have been affected. And Orochimaru still stared at them, totally flabbergasted.

Just one question remained. What would he do now?

"Hmm you know who I am..." He smiled that disturbing smile he was so good at.

And spiked his killing intent. But after Sakura, it just didn't affect them anymore. Sakura didn't even stop laughing... actually she seemed to laugh harder.

"Uhh, could you stop that?" Sasuke asked him. "It's distracting and Sakura's kinda cute when she rolls around like that, especially with her ass up in the air."

Sakura immediately stopped moving. Instead she glared at Sasuke, who smirked back, his sharingan still active.

"You... can take my killing intent far better than I thought you would." Orochimaru said, staring at them curiously. "In fact, you seem a whole lot different than I was led to believe."

"Oh, well Kabuto's kinda betrayed you." Naruto shrugged. He had no compunctions about selling Kabuto out.

"Ohh he actually had the..." Orochimaru started to say, of course Kabuto's form, crouching on top of his head put an end to that.

"Ohh what did I ever do to you people that you would reveal that little secret to Orochimaru?" He asked. He seemed ready to cry!

The effect was ruined of course by the fact that he sat on Orochimaru's head!

In fact, this drove something home to Naruto, something horrible, something that shattered his very perception of reality. Especially as Sasuke started laughing and Sakura resumed her mad laughter on the floor.

He, Naruto, was the sane one! This entire universe had been taken over by insane people, and in comparison Naruto was the sane one!

"Oh no... oh hell no... I can't be the straight man! I'm the crazy awesome one! Not you people!" He shouted at the insanity around him.

Orochimaru, already confused by Kabuto's attitude and Sakura's welcome just stared at him, strangely calm. He didn't even bother shooing Kabuto off his head. "Can somebody explain what is going on?" He asked, quite pleasantly really.

Team seven looked at each other and Kabuto. Pissing Orochimaru off would be stupid, it would be extremely stupid...

"I'm not telling." Kabuto grinned at them, but he could easily get away with that trick of his... had he stolen that from Madara?

Sakura shrugged. "Eh, I'm pretty sure we can get away from the snake, so I'm not telling either."

Sasuke's sharingan spun lazily. "Well if we are just going to run away." He shrugged.

"Well, then it's decided." Naruto brought his hands together and created an army of shadowclones.

One of the clones stepped forward, turned around, pulled his pants down and mooned Orochimaru.

"We aren't telling you anything!" Naruto shouted, already running madly with his teammates.

Kabuto chuckled. "My I think I like them." Before he disappeared.

Naruto wondered why he could hear it from the distance they had already crossed, but this Kabuto acted even weirder than the usual one.

"RAAAAR!" Orochimaru screamed in rage, as he recovered. Soon Naruto could feel his clones die messily behind them.

"Huh, he's cutting through them pretty fast." He observed neutrally.

"Well, what did you expect, he is one of the Sanin." Sakura replied, hopping easily from trunk to trunk.

She jumped right into the maw of a giant snake, that had appeared out of nowhere. "Saku..." He started to shout, but Sakura didn't let a little thing like being eaten slow her down. She slammed through the hide on the other side of the snake. Gobs of flesh held on a few kunai.

"Hey Sasuke! Got some fire?" She asked grinning.

"We are being hunted by one of the most dangerous men this world knows... and you want me to roast some snake meat?" Sasuke shouted at her.

She considered the question for a second before she nodded. "Sounds about right."

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "How far is he out."

Naruto concentrated for a second, getting a feel for his clones. "Oh, still at least thirty seconds. And hurry it up ok? I'm a bit peckish, should have eaten a bit more this morning."

Sasuke nodded and send a ball of fire in front of Sakura. She somersaulted over it, holding only the kunai and the snake flesh into the fire. Then she threw the burned meat skewers at them.

Naruto quickly cut the worst of the charcoal of the meat and handed two of the remains to Sasuke.

Sakura didn't bother removing the charcoal, she just washed it down with her sake.

"When I get my hands on you, you'll wish you had never been born brats!" Orochimaru hissed behind them.

"I thought we had thirty seconds!" Sasuke glared accusingly at Naruto.

"He isn't here yet! We can just hear him!" Naruto defended himself, between bites.

"Hmm good stuff this." Sakura added, ignoring the conversation.

"What do we do when he catches up?" Sasuke asked, slightly concerned.

"Oh, that's easy!" Naruto grinned as he jumped to the ground and picked up a guy with a Rain headband. "Hi, how about you distract Orochimaru for us?" He grinned at the guy.

He had recognized him from the first test.

"Geez and I didn't even introduce myself yet!" He grumbled. "But... you guys owe me one!" He shouted as he flung himself at Orochimaru.

"Wow... that worked pretty well." Sakura observed. "What did you do to the poor guy?"

Naruto continued running. "I don't know! I didn't expect him to just agree!" Naruto answered, slightly worried. What would the guy want in return?

"Icy Armageddon!" He shouted behind them and a Naruto could feel a cold wind buffer him in the back. He turned around and saw a tower of Ice. Somehow the kid had created a gigantic tower of ice! Out of thin air.

Orochimaru had found himself trapped at the outer edges of the structure, unable to move, or really do anything.

"That... is quite some technique." Sasuke noted.

"That it is... I wonder what else he can make with that ice of his." Sakura said, glancing back speculatively.

"Well, Orochimaru doesn't look like he'll let that ice stop him. So unless you want to have the pervert's hickey on your neck we should hurry." Naruto reminded them.

"Yes, he's already halfway out of the ice. Geez what kind of monster is he?" Sasuke shook his head.

"The worst kind. Hurry up."

Team seven hurried through the forest. Hopefully loosing all hints of Orochimaru.

One of the few teams without a traveler and not from Konoha found themselves without a scroll, after team seven passed them.

"Cool, it's even the scroll we needed." Sakura cheered.

Naruto nodded. "Great, then all we have to do is get to the tower."

"Not quite." Orochimaru stood before them, how he had managed Naruto didn't know, but he had.

"Ahh man, and here we hoped we could avoid beating you to a bloody hunk of meat. You just look stupid like that." Sakura taunted him.

The smile creeping over Orochimaru's face didn't fill Naruto with any confidence. "Oh, you have quite the mouth girl. But I think you'll find out... I'm not as easy to defeat as Zabuza."

He had heard about that then. Well, the story would have spread. Three genin defeat a dangerous missing nin. Who wouldn't love to spread that tale?

"Maybe, but really, what are you going to do to us? Sasuke has the sharingan, Naruto has the Kyuubi and don't think he can't control it." Sakura smirked at him. Though Naruto could see the shaking of her hands. He recognized it from his Sakura. Just that tiny, imperceptible little shake she always had, facing against enemies she didn't think she could win against.

And Naruto didn't know just how much he could control the Kyuubi. He hadn't taken it's power here, not entirely. He felt confident in taking up to six tails, but would that be enough to take Orochimaru?

"Ohh and what can you do little girl? I notice you can gack..." Sakura suddenly stood before Orochimaru, who had several knives embedded in his face, stomach and heart.

"Damn." Sakura cursed and jumped back, as the body broke down into mud.

Another Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows, he looked at his corpse, expression unreadable.

"... I... I'm actually impressed. That speed could have killed me." He nodded at Sakura. "The fact that you didn't hesitate for even a second... also very impressive. I'll admit, fighting you could prove difficult." He looked at Sasuke and Naruto. "Fighting all of you, might even be impossible for me alone." He admitted.

Naruto could see Sakura's confident smirk return. But he could also see her shaking hands and it hadn't gotten better.

If she could feel confident, this was the real Orochimaru, she would have tried to kill him again, but without that knowledge, she couldn't afford to waste chakra. Same with Sasuke, he could probably kill that body, but how often could they do it?

Sasuke glanced at Naruto. Naruto cursed the plan that had Orochimaru operate relatively unimpeded in the second exam. They were supposed to bring Tsunade back in the month they had to prepare for the third task. With her backing them up, coupled with an alliance with Sand, the invasion would have turned into a slaughter of Sound, Orochimaru would have been defeated with minimal losses of life, since Tsunade would be around to take care of the wounded.

But that meant risking this confrontation, a confrontation far more risky than they had realized.

Naruto glared at Orochimaru. He would need to kill that form, he could count on nearly unlimited amounts of chakra. Only he had enough reserves to go toe to toe with Orochimaru. His teammates relied on extremely lethal but chakra intensive attacks, without the reserves much older jonin would have.

Naruto took a deep breath.

"But, you can't all fight me. I can see just how taxing that technique was for you girl." Orochimaru continued finally, after watching them watch him uneasily. "You have to be sure to hit me, not another clone. The same goes for the Uchiha. So the only one I have to worry about is Uzumaki."

He sneered at Naruto. "And a talentless hack like him... chakra alone isn't everything brat. You can swarm me with those clones till you run out of chakra, it won't help you at all."

"But I don't need to swarm you." Naruto replied. "I just need to make sure you are the real one. Then Sasuke and Sakura can easily take you out." Naruto replied calmly.

"Hmm, maybe." Orochimaru closed his eyes, listening to something only he could hear. "Maybe not." He opened them again and rushed Naruto with the same insane speed he remembered from the first time through the forest.

This time though he could see him coming. And this time, it would end differently!

-o-

Hmm well... I really hope I'm not screwing this up... Hope you guys enjoy.


	11. Hurry up

Fragments

-o-

Hurry up

-o-

Sasuke watched breathlessly as Orochimaru rushed Naruto. He might not show it, but he felt terror for the first time since he had come here. The fourth had told him about Orochimaru, about just how dangerous the man had been. And how much it took out of the fourth to beat him.

Suddenly Orochimaru's direction changed, as two rasengan collided with his face and chest respectively.

He flew away in a tight spiral and slammed into a tree. Sadly it just spread more mud along the trees, as Orochimaru apparently had decided that attacking them directly would be a rather foolish move.

Another version of him stepped from the shadows and stared at Naruto in shock. "You... two rasengan... in less than a second..." He glared at Naruto, eyes filled with hatred.

Naruto smirked confidently. "Hey, maybe you would do better if you attacked us in your real form?" He taunted the monster. Sasuke wanted to say something, but Naruto had the right idea, they needed to face the real deal, if Sasuke or Sakura wanted to be of any use... no matter how terrifying that would be.

Orochimaru relaxed again. "You brats sure have a mouth on you." He looked at each in turn. "Not that you don't deserve that mouth I suppose. To crush my clones like this... to... force... me to fight like this. Impressive, very impressive. I came for the Uchiha, but maybe you would like to..." A kunai from Sakura ended this clone as well, as it slammed into his throat.

"No? A pity." His voice appeared directly behind Sasuke. He whirled around, kunai and sharingan ready. Orochimaru's head shot at him, at speeds a normal genin wouldn't even be able to comprehend, speeds even Sasuke would have had trouble following if he were really twelve.

However, he had fought Madara to a standstill, more or less, and even if his body couldn't quite keep up, his eyes could. The mangekyo flared for a second, draining most of Sasuke's chakra in one attack. Damn, he missed the Kyuubi. Still, Orochimaru recoiled in horror and screamed as he must have felt as if the black fire really had hit him. Sasuke couldn't waste what chakra he had on that though. Even a second of it would have drained him dry.

"That's the real one!" Naruto shouted, quite unnecessary really. Sakura had moved before Naruto even finished, just as Orochimaru used some sort of technique to escape the black fire he thought himself trapped in Sakura appeared to slam her kunai into his face. The force of the blow threw the head far, far away from her, far enough to give Naruto a shot at it with the a raseshuriken. Where had he learned that anyway? Without his father... oh wow, he had to develop it himself. Very impressive.

From his position he could see Orochimaru's eyes widen as the sphere of utter destruction barreled down on him. And the quick, cruel smile, just before it hit. He whirled around, searching for wherever the snake managed to hide. Sakura and Naruto also searched the area, not trusting the snake to die.

A second later a new form moved out of the forest, decidedly the worse for wear. "I must admit, this fight isn't like I expected at all. The amount of damage you managed to do..." He glanced at Sasuke. "The techniques you use." He smiled at them all, licking his lips. "I think I'll have to take you all in."

"Orochimaru!" Anko growled. Where had she come from? No matter, she could help them against him.

"Oh, Anko." He seemed amused. "Come to help the dear little genin take me down?" But Sasuke could see the annoyance written all over his face. Orochimaru couldn't stay anymore. With Anko as backup he couldn't hope to defeat them.

"You three get back, I'll deal with him." Anko growled, ignoring Orochimaru words.

He looked at her in surprise. "Oh? You aren't here to help them? Hmm how amusing."

Sasuke remained where he stood, no way would he let Anko fight Orochimaru on her own. Sakura and Naruto also stayed right were they were.

"What's wrong with you kids? Get out of here while yous till can!" Anko shouted at them.

Smirking Sasuke jumped beside her. "Nah, I couldn't in good conscience let my big sis fight that bastard on her own." He told her with a grin. Anko flinched for a second and seemed to stumble.

"Oh my, looks like she isn't used to such words. Regret returning to Konoha Anko? Why don't you join me again? I promise I'll take good care of you." Orochimaru smirked.

Naruto for his part frowned at Anko, thinking hard it looked like.

Anko stared at Sasuke. "What... what the hell?" She whispered. "I never... and what's with the fourth? And I never babysat you..." She shook her head. Clearly spooked by whatever just happened.

"Don't worry about it now, we have some snake bastard to kill." Naruto ordered.

"Hell yeah, I have this awesome idea for a human skin vest. I bet he'd make awesome material." Sakura shouted, once again using disturbing mental images as a weapon. He hoped that, that was what she was doing at least.

Orochimaru stared at them for a few seconds then sighed. "I guess I can't get you today." He glared at Sasuke. "And I doubt I could get you with a seal either and even if I could... you seem to have forgotten your mission, a pity that you would hold your clan in such poor memory."

Sasuke stared flatly at him. "That's all? A thinly veiled insult? That's all you can come up with? Geez, I honestly wonder how you managed to convince so many people to follow you."

Shrugging Orochimaru took a step back. "I'm better when I think there's an actual chance to sway the target. We'll see each other again though, don't ever forget that."

"Oh no! You don't!" Anko screamed, trying to follow him, but Naruto caught her before she even managed to take one step.

"Let him go, you can't beat him and I don't know if we all together could stop him if he wants to get away." He told her calmly.

Anko rounded on him. "You little bastard, let me go. I need to kill him, if your father had just taken me with him... I could have killed him, I should have killed him! And now here you are ruining... what the fuck am I talking about?" She recoiled and held her head, moaning. "I... the fourth never killed Orochimaru! He died sealing the fox into Naruto." She glanced at Naruto, just for confirmation of that fact.

Breathing heavily she looked at Sasuke. "And... and your father died in the massacre... not, not sealing the fox in you... what? What's going on? Why do I remember... why do I think I remember..." She sunk to her knees, still cradling her head. Shit, he had to do something about this breakdown.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked worriedly. "Is this what I think it is?" Sasuke ignored her, instead he sat down beside Anko and hugged her. Somehow that seemed to help.

"I dunno, bleed over from his world, the same happened with Ebisu." Naruto answered her. "But, that hadn't been anything like this. It's almost as if her memories are bleeding together..."

"Anko? It's alright big sis. I'm here for you." Sasuke whispered in her ear. Maybe, just maybe he could have his big sister back, his big sister, not somebody who looked a lot like her. He grimaced as he realized what he just thought. He couldn't do that to Anko, just because he wanted his version back he couldn't kill this version. He had already done it to himself, no need to add more victims to his headcount.

"I'm not... but... I..." Anko stammered, and whimpered as more memories seemed to invade her head. "That... that seems nice." She whispered. Sasuke had no idea what she remembered, but he had many happy memories of her. Ones where she laughed with him, Naruto and Sakura.

Ones where they laughed together, he had heard stories about Anko's pranks... maybe this wouldn't be outright murder? If she only gained the memories, but retained her old ones? Would it change her? Would it be so bad?

He continued to cradle the older woman. Naruto and Sakura remained alert for anything out of the ordinary.

"Shh. It will be alright." He whispered into Anko's ear. He remembered her doing something similar, when she had been drafted for babysitting duty the first time. So long ago... his mother had been so worried about Anko doing something to him, corrupting him. But Anko had been far too worried about doing something wrong for that to even be a danger.

"I... what's happening to me?" Anko whimpered. "I remember... I remember babysitting you like this." She smiled weakly. "I remember being so outraged that the fourth killed Orochimaru... I... why do I remember stuff like that. It's not real!"

"It is for me. Or was, till..." He trailed off.

Anko held on to him like a lifeline. What the hell just happened?

-o-

Naruto glanced at Anko and Sasuke. So the memory thing happened again. It just seemed to be much worse for Anko, who seemed to remember the stuff much more vivid than Ebisu had. He looked at Sakura who shrugged helplessly, she had no idea what went wrong either. Did she know about Ebisu? Probably not, she had actually been drunk that time after all.

But if that spread, if more and more people remembered more and more time-lines, then... well what did that mean? Would Orochimaru get memories of a time where he ruled the world? Would Sasuke get memories from Sakura's world and go crazy?

Would Sakura get some from his and go sane... saner?

Or would she stiffen up, look with panic stricken eyes at something on the forest floor and seem to be on the edge of a nervous break down?

He looked at the floor, nothing there. So why did she seem so panicked? "Sakura! What's wrong?"

She didn't take her eyes from the ground. "Don't you see that?" She asked, her panic making her voice tremble. "That hexapod on the ground! Don't you realize what that means?"

"There's nothing there Sakura." He tried to calm her down. For a second he thought it worked, but while Sakura calmed somewhat, for a second. She immediately had anther problem.

"Oh great, now I'm hallucinating as well. On top of being as crazy as I am normally." She glared at him. "And don't try to deny it. I know I'm crazy."

He hadn't actually planed on arguing that. Maybe that she had reasons to be that way, but not that she wasn't crazy. "Hey, it's just that encounter with Orochimaru, nothing more."

At least he hoped she just had a stress reaction. Because the implication if it turned out to be something else... he didn't want to think about it.

"Things sorted out? At least somewhat?" Sasuke asked Anko, loud enough for them to hear.

"I... yes, I think they are... geez time travel, weird memories... though I'm not really complaining. Most of these are pretty nice." Anko smiled down at Naruto and ruffled his hair. Then blinked in confusion and stared at her hand. Sasuke grinned widely.

"Good. We need to get out of here and talk to the Hokage. He needs to know that you have gotten all these memories." Sasuke said to her.

"He knows about the memories, or at least that it's possible." Naruto told them as he sat down beside them. "Ebisu had a similar experience."

They looked at him, all of them did. "And when were you going to tell us about that?"

"When we had some time and I thought about it. Seriously, it didn't seem that important with all the stuff going on. The Hokage knew about it. Shouldn't that be enough?" He defended himself.

Sakura nodded quickly. "I suppose that's enough, still we need to go and get out of here, this is giving me hallucinations."

All agreed and moved out and silence reigned between them all for a while. Anko seemed busy sorting out the new memories, occasionally smiling brightly as something particularly good happened to her.

"Oh... oh my... but Itachi is certainly good." She leered at one point. Naruto really wanted to say something, but from Anko he actually expected an observation like that. It fit her, like it didn't fit other people around him.

Soon they arrived at the tower. He could feel other genin already in there. He wondered how many travelers made it, after all they didn't have all that many non traveler groups to take the scrolls from.

He felt a bit bad about the groups from Konoha, if they stumbled upon a traveler group, they would have been beaten rather badly. Unless the traveler didn't have the chakra reserves and only massive chakra draining techniques. But really, who didn't have a few low level techniques? Even he had a few of those. And taijutsu should always be an option, especially with how fast they grew used to their bodies again.

Nobody waited for them around the tower, a combination of the few groups entered into the second exam and the speed with which they had reached the tower.

They entered and activated the scrolls. Instead of Iruka, Kakashi greeted them, just as planed. He looked at Anko in surprise. "Hmm what happened?" He sighed.

"I'm having memories of living in his world." Anko said, much calmer, now that she had some time to sort things out. "And damn... some of the stuff I know remember is totally weird. I mean Itachi not..." She glanced at Sasuke. "Not doing the stupid shit he did here? He's actually pretty cool... and sexy, definitely sexy." She looked down at Sasuke. "You know little brother. It's a pity I do consider you a little brother, otherwise I would so kidnap you and do unspeakable things to you." She smiled widely.

Sasuke smirked in response. "I wouldn't mind really, if I didn't consider you to be my big sister."

An eyebrow rose on Anko's face. "You know... that opens up quite the window of opportunity."

Sasuke, who had prepared to leave the room, to talk to Kakashi in private stopped moving. "Uhh... what opportunity?" He asked warily.

"Oh, you know? All the kink of incest with none of the social stigma." Anko giggled and snuggled up to him.

Naruto had to fight hard to not break out laughing as Sasuke locked up and froze on the spot. A second later Naruto asked himself why he fought laughing, Sakura didn't even try, Anko didn't try and Kakashi probably hid it beneath his mask. So he laughed right into Sasuke's face. "Bwahahaha, finally! Comeuppance for your perverted ways!"

"Finally! Revenge!" Anko agreed ready. "Never, ever mess with big sis, I thought I taught you that, twerp." Anko smirked, only to stop short. "Whu? I... oh shit. It's taking over!" She said shocked.

That brought them all up short. "We really need to see the Hokage then, this could be dangerous." Kakashi said, quickly ushering them on.

Anko shook her head, but didn't fight him. "No, that's not what I mean. What I mean is I liked that interaction in my memories, the friendship, the... " She swallowed the word. "Anyway, I want it to take over. I want to act that way. But it's not me, not exactly." She frowned, as they quickly walked through the tower. "Gah, I don't know how to explain it, it's weird having two different lives in your head. Especially if they are so different."

"I can't imagine." Kakashi muttered, looking at them all strangely.

Sakura hadn't said much since she saw whatever she had seen, she seemed very, very worried about it for some reason.

They entered a room somewhere in the tower, Naruto hadn't paid much attention the Hokage sat in the middle of it, reading a scroll and whatever he was reading, it seemed to worry him. As they entered he looked up. "Team seven." He sighed. "I'm hereby removing you from the exam and promote you to special jonin." They blinked, they hadn't expected that.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Sasuke asked. Sure they had expected that they wouldn't enter the last part of the exam, but at least the prelims... if they would even be held that is, they should have at least waited for them. Naruto agreed with Sasuke there, if that actually had been his objection.

Sakura looked bleakly at the scroll. "People are hallucinating things aren't they? Things that aren't really there. And not just a few people." She asked.

The Hokage looked at her sharply and nodded. "Not just that. Dreams, memories, all over Konoha... I got a messenger hawk with this scroll hours ago. The same happens in the capital, much more frequent than here, but that's mostly because there are more people there. And, now that more and more people experience it several ninja stepped up... they suffered from the same. It started about a week after you three left the academy."

He looked at them a tired frown on his face. "Orochimaru attacked you, so we can say with some certainty he hasn't been affected yet. But what happens if he is affected? And what does this mean?" He shook his head. "I'm too old to deal with this. I've already talked to Jirayia, he's made his way here a bit earlier than expected."

Naruto frowned. "He also had memories? What were they like?"

"Pretty much what you told us about your world, but there were a few deviations. Nothing major, maybe just the different perspective."

Naruto considered that, and looked at the old man. "What about the others affected, are they connected to us too?" He glanced at Kakashi, shouldn't he have gotten memories too then?

"No, most aren't and they don't remember much about you. One of them dreams about an assault on Sand, with a village hidden in the Silence." The old man told them. Sakura's eyes widened at that.

"It sounds like Temari's..."

Nodding the Hokage agreed with her. "Yes, that could fit with her description of Leaf attacking them. Or not, but there are a lot of different memories. Some are similar or the same, maybe distorted through their perspectives. I bet the other villages are the same. In any case, I'm too old to deal with this. We need Tsunade here... maybe she'll have memories too."

"Hopefully not from my world." Sakura whispered.

Sasuke glanced at Anko. "Could it be that it affects people close to us the most?" He asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "I would have been affected then, you used your techniques quite liberally around me, but I haven't had any strange dreams."

Anko shrugged. "I didn't have any either, not until I suddenly had the memories of another life shoved into my head." 

Kakashi looked at her uncomfortably, then at Sakura. "Yes, well. I like my head the way it is, please, none of you get any strange ideas."

Sakura smirked at him. "Oh, but I liked that time when we were lovers, I'll always keep it in fond memories." She grimaced a second later. "On the other hand, I would prefer to spare you the shitty years before we were desperate, lonely and fucked up enough to fuck each other senseless captain."

Kakashi looked decidedly green. "I appreciate that Sakura." He nodded, slowly.

Anko stared at Sakura in something akin to... respect? It didn't matter, the Hokage cleared his throat.

"In any case. We need Tsunade here, we need somebody who's still young, still strong, to deal with this mess, before it becomes any worse." He explained. "We need to know what's happening... and if your... travels... had anything to do with it."

Naruto wanted to defend himself, say that he hadn't planed on going into the past, but he realized that the Hokage didn't mean it like that.

"Hey brat." Jirayia greeted him from behind. "So I heard you perfected the rasengan?"

Naruto whirled around, and tackle hugged the older man. Damn he had missed the pervert. "Hey, super pervert." He returned the greeting, fighting the tears.

Jirayia's hand fell on his head. "Something tells me I haven't remembered everything that happens to me in your world." He muttered. He nodded at Sakura neutrally. Sasuke got a quick glare, before he managed to reign it in.

"So, the old man tell me he needs Tsunade here to deal with this mess, and that you three should be able to find her." He grinned at them, trying not to show his resentment for Sasuke.

"Well, yeah. But that was before whatever is happening happened. Who knows where she is now. She might even be on her way to Konoha, like you for example." Sasuke added to the conversation.

"Or eaten by a freaking hexapod." Sakura muttered.

The Hokage nodded. "That's why you'll accompany Jirayia. He'll be able to track Tsunade even if your memory proves wrong."

And keep an eye on them of course. Naruto thought to himself. Jirayia seemed a bit subdued, strangely enough. Naruto wondered why, if he didn't remember dying, why would he feel bad about anything?

"We don't have much time. Several packs have been readied for you. You'll leave as soon as possible. Anko, Kakashi. I don't have to mention that you won't lose a word about this." The Hokage said. Both nodded quickly. "Good. And to you, good luck. I'll have to deal with the fallout in the village." He stood up.

Sakura suddenly spoke up. "It's not just hallucinations is it?" She asked, dread filling her voice.

With a sigh the old man let himself fall down into the chair again. "It's nothing bad, but today there was a new stall at the market, it belonged to nobody, in fact, nobody could even remember seeing it built. But it came fully equipped."

Silence reigned. If a stall could suddenly appear, what else could? Sakura whimpered.

-o-

Sakura followed Jirayia and the boys, as they walked ahead of her, apparently without a worry in the world. Or maybe they just were better at hiding it. For her part, she jumped at every shadow, just like back home. Always worried that some sort of monster would jump out of the trees and kill her. Her and her teammates.

Of course this was silly. Even if a monster did somehow appear, it would die to them far faster than they would die to it. Hell, with Jirayia here they had enough power to thrash anything but a freaking army of hexapods. Nothing she could think of would be able to touch them, but still she worried. If only one hexapod made it soon there would be more. Those freaky things just never seemed to stop making more of themselves.

"Sakura, would you calm down? You are freaking all of us out." Naruto complained, loudly. She wanted to tell him to shut up and be quite, before they heard them, but stopped herself. There weren't any monsters, not yet at any rate.

"Sorry, just. I'm still freaked out about the stall just appearing out of nowhere." She confessed. The Hokage had ushered them out as fast as possible, citing the need to prepare for Tsunade and a lot of other things. She didn't envy him. With all this going on he had just gained a monstrous workload.

If only paperwork was the worst of it. But he had to make decisions, which would be much, much worse than pushing paper around.

"And that hallucination?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

"Yeah, that too. What if one of those things comes here? They multiply! All on their own. What if Hinata gets the memories of my Hinata? What if they drive her insane and she does it too?" She realized she was panicking and crushed the fear ruthlessly. She couldn't afford to worry panic if this happened.

"We are in a very different situation though." Jirayia pointed out. "Not only are Naruto and Sasuke not defecting, they are stronger than ever. There's no earth shattering war that drives the other villages into raiding etc." He smiled reassuringly at her. "Really, the entire political situation is far different from your home. I doubt something like that can happen here."

"I would just like to point out that we have other realities apparently influencing this one." Sakura glared at him. "Can you imagine what amount of chaos that could mean?"

Jirayia grimaced, oh yeah he could and he tried to distract her from it. "I know, and we need to find a solution. But fretting over it doesn't help. It doesn't help at all."

Sakura sighed and hung her head. "I'm sorry, but back home, paranoia kept me alive... or maybe better hyper-paranoia."

"I figured as much." Jirayia said, giving her a weak grin. "But it will only make things harder here."

"There's the village, Tsunade left it just a day or two before we arrived here last time... we are probably early this time though." Naruto spoke up, pointing at the small city.

"We'll ask around for her. I assume you all can gather information?" Sakura nodded, not the way he gathered them, hanging out in brothels and the like, but she could gather information. Sasuke and Naruto nodded as well.

"Ok, then we split up, each of us searches a different part of the city." Jirayia pulled out a map and showed them their assigned sectors. "If you find a hint of Tsunade just try to confirm it, we meet here in the evening." He pointed at a hotel.

Again all three nodded. "Ok, then get going."

Sakura jumped up and jogged into the city, where Naruto and Jirayia would ask people more or less openly, Sakura preferred to trust her own senses and her ability to stay hidden.

She briefly wondered how Sasuke gathered information, probably whored himself out to pretty women, similar to Jirayia and Naruto, the only difference being he got paid for it, while Naruto and Jirayia had to pay.

She quickly found herself around the worst part of town, the rundown little shops, the stink of sex, disease and poverty. She rushed from building to build always listening for anything that could give her a hint that Tsunade had already made her way here and proceeded to lose a lot of money.

But nobody whispered about the Legendary Sucker and Sakura had to ask Tsunade this time. That nickname couldn't just be about the gambling right? It had to be about...

"Damn, that dream's been disturbing." Somebody muttered. She didn't recognize the voice, but the subject matter hit a bit too close to home.

"Another one of those?" Another voice asked.

"Yeah, again with the weird woman running all over the town screwing everybody to death."

Sakura looked at the building the two men talked, that better be just a strange wet dream, because if that actually happened in a reality and if that reality somehow were transported into this she would officially declare the universe insane and work on ending the world herself.

"Weird man, how often did that happen then?" The second voice asked.

"Third time this year." Came the answer and Sakura lost all interest, just a wet dream then, good. She wouldn't have to end the world for reality being stupid. She might have to kill the freak in there for being more disturbed than her, but not the entire world.

-o-

"She isn't here yet." Sakura told them as they sat down in the evening.

Sasuke nodded, he had concluded that as well. Nobody had lost a lot of money in the city of late, especially not a pretty woman.

Jirayia nodded as well. "Yes, however I talked to somebody who heard about her a few days travel from here. There's some sort of sickness in that town and some woman showed up and started healing the people there."

"Makes sense. That would explain the money she lost here last time." Naruto agreed.

"So, we stay the night and move to the town tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

"Seems like a good idea, there's one obvious road to the town, so even if they move here tomorrow we should stumble over them." Jirayia agreed. "And if they move somewhere else, we need to go to the town anyway to follow them."

"Good, I need some sleep." Sasuke yawned, talking to so many people always drained him. He didn't mind talking to strangers, but it just got annoying pretty fast if you had the same conversation over and over again.

"Ok, we get up at dawn tomorrow then." Jirayia instructed them, he acted, unconsciously, as if they needed babysitting, or maybe the Hokage told him to keep an eye on them? In either case that was also annoying. But Sasuke didn't mention it, not worth the hassle.

Soon they all were ready to sleep. Jirayia hadn't bothered getting two rooms. Sakura didn't exactly care who saw her naked and both him and Naruto were mature enough not to freak out. Though how Jirayia knew about that... eh, probably asked Kakashi.

They laid down and went to sleep. As soon as Sakura's head hit her pillow she was out. Sasuke kinda envied her that skill, to instantly fall asleep. He couldn't do that, he could enter a kind of daze, when he needed to get some quick rest, but not real sleep. Jirayia also could just make himself fall asleep.

Sasuke looked at Naruto in the weak light of the moon. The other boy laid there, eyes still open, staring at the ceiling. Shuffling his futon a bit he moved closer to Naruto.

"It's kinda unfair, the way they can just fall asleep like that isn't it?" He asked, just to make some noise. He wanted to, needed to talk about what was happening.

"Heh, yeah." Naruto agreed.

"What do you think? What's going on?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"I have no idea. All I know is that it's not good... and it might be our fault." Naruto answered, his voice tired, though not from lack of sleep.

"Think we can do anything about it?"

Naruto slowly shook his head. "Maybe, if we knew more about what's happening."

Sakura whimpered silently in her futon. Both of them looked at her, but neither moved. Sakura wouldn't appreciate being woken by them.

"But as it is." Naruto continued, after Sakura went quiet again. "We aren't getting Tsunade because she can do anything. We are getting her because she's younger and can deal with the stress of reality collapsing around her better than the third... not much better though."

Nodding Sasuke stared at the ceiling. "You would be a better choice then."

Naruto shuffled slightly a humorless snort escaped him. "But nobody would want me in the position. Not yet. I've done nothing to really inspire people. Sure I got points for catching Haku and Zabuza. But that's not enough to justify giving me the position. And time-travel won't make people more confident in me." 

He had a point there, sadly. Sakura whimpered again, he could see her hold a bottle, hugging it almost like a safety line.

"So, we are calling Tsunade to make sure there's a Konoha left for you to rule then?" Sasuke tried to joke.

"Hehe, probably." Naruto chuckled, though the fact that it just might be true...

"Ino." Sakura cried out, not loud enough to wake Jirayia, but more than loud enough to catch their attention. Sasuke could see tears run down her face.

"Damn... she's so goddamn confident when she's awake, but she breaks down in her sleep." Sasuke whispered. Then again, he had seen behind her facade a few times now. All the aspects of her personality screamed broken. But she didn't have anybody she could trust in, nobody to really confide in, nobody to heal her.

Naruto stood up, grabbed his futon and moved it right next to Sakura's. In a move that would be suicide to anybody else, anybody who couldn't regenerate a punctured lung at least. And geez there was a disturbing image. Him attempting to kill Naruto.

Sakura woke up as soon as Naruto had flopped his futon down and her kunai immediately went for Naruto's throat. Naruto had barely been able to deflect the blade. Instead he moved into a hug, effectively immobilizing Sakura.

Sakura seemed shocked for a second, but somehow she relaxed. And then the waterworks went on and she cried into Naruto's chest, holding onto him as if he were the only thing keeping her standing, maybe he was.

Sasuke moved behind her unsure what he would do, but suddenly he found himself dragged into the hug. "Don't... don't even do that again, don't defect, don't go insane. Please don't do it. I couldn't... I couldn't go on. I can barely go on as it is. Most of the time I just want to crawl into a dark place, and drink myself to death." She whispered into Naruto's chest. "I just... this is..." She hiccuped, unsure how how to go on. "If these things from my world show up... we need you. You two, you are the only people I know who could stop them. If you... if you go join them. If you disappear, then Ino and Kakashi and Lee and Kiba and Neji and, and, and..." She sobbed into Naruto's shirt and dragged both of them onto the ground with her.

Awkwardly he slipped his arms around her. He wanted to say something, anything. But nothing came to mind. He wanted to rock her back and forth, but the inclusion of Naruto in the hug made that impossible, so they just sat there, while Sakura cried. Pouring out all the pain she carried with her. Naruto didn't look much better. He soundlessly opened his mouth and closed it, again and again. Searching for anything to make it better, but failing. He looked ready to cry himself actually.

After ten minutes it seemed Sakura had calmed down, at least the crying stopped, but she didn't let go of them if anything she held on tighter. "Don't go, please don't go." She whispered.

"We won't." Naruto promised, finally having found something to say. Sasuke nodded, she might not be his girlfriend, she might never be. But she was his teammate and his friend, no matter what happened and how she acted.

"Let's get back to sleep." He said and tried to let go, somehow Sakura managed to grip him harder.

"NO! Please, I... I don't want to dream." She cried.

Naruto coughed. "Well we'll be able to hug again once we are on the ground, but we need to move the futons just a bit closer." He explained, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"I... yes, of course." Sakura took a deep breath and let them go, watching as if she expected them to disappear now, that she had dared to let go. Watching them like a hawk, watching for that betrayal she expected from them.

Instead he and Naruto moved their futon right next to hers and laid down again, Sakura between them. When she drew them against her he honestly expected some lewd remark, but she simply laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

He looked at Naruto, who shrugged weakly. He didn't really get it either. Soon Sakura had fallen asleep again. This time no whimpers escaped her, she simply smiled, sometimes drawing Naruto closer to her, sometimes Sasuke. Always making sure they didn't stray too far from her.

"Well, this is kinda uncomfortable." Naruto whispered.

"Yes." Sasuke replied. "Not that bad though."

"Not bad, just... I wouldn't want to go to sleep like this often." Naruto agreed.

"Jirayia didn't wake up?" Sasuke asked, slowly petting Sakura's head. He couldn't see Jirayia's futon from his position.

"He's gone, probably wanted to give us some privacy here." Naruto reported.

"Good, well... let's get some sleep.. and hope she doesn't kill us in the morning." Sasuke joked.

"I don't think we have to worry about that anymore." Naruto grinned back, though he seemed doubtful. Just because Sakura showed a moment of vulnerability right after a nightmare, didn't mean she wouldn't return to her persona the next morning.

-o-

He had been right, Sakura shortly after waking up had returned to her brash, insulting and perverted persona. He also noticed however that her alcohol consumption had been reduced by roughly twenty percent. He counted that as a major victory. Though he supposed she could just be conserving her resources.

They were on the road, making good time, training as much as possible, throwing punches and kicks at each other, while maintaining a good speed. Actually after a, more or less, good night of sleep the urgency they all had felt yesterday had worn off. Reality was still in danger of unraveling, but they couldn't really do anything about it. At least for now, so why worry about it?

They could find Tsunade, they could train and they would focus on that, instead of doom and gloom in form of the probable end of the world. Especially Sakura seemed to be cheerful this morning. Repressing that thought with all the might of her considerable mind.

They didn't meet anybody on the road, or better anybody important. They met a few travelers with good news. Tsunade still remained in the village and would probably remain for at least a week longer. The sick were recovering, but there were some people from the surrounding villages who came in every day or two, who also needed to be healed. The initial flood had slowed to a trickle however and soon nobody would be coming anymore. Or at least people thought so. Tsunade would move on once she had enough money and no serious injuries remained though, whether people came for help or not.

They reached the village late in the evening, tired, worn and beat up. Sakura didn't even have enough chakra left to heal herself. But that just meant they had an excuse to go to Tsunade, not that they needed one, but having one was nice.

Quickly they found themselves in a large building, maybe a barn or something. A lot of people were laid out on pallets, some moaning quietly, but most people simply seemed to be recovering from whatever it was that hit them.

Tsunade strode through them, uncaring of the occasional bloody pallet. Which answered the question of whether or not she had been affected by whatever was happening. She had been affected, the only question that remained was whether this would be good, or bad.

"Hello Tsunade. It's been a while." Jirayia greeted her. She sighed and looked up at him. When her eyes fell on Naruto they widened. She glared at him, as expected and she nearly wept at the sight of Sakura.

-o-

Ino suppressed the scream she nearly let lose as her eyes flew open. She had another dream, this one far less nebulous than the others, most of the others. Just like the last few dreams she could remember a few bits of this dream... bits she really would rather forget. She wasn't interested in Sakura that way! Not at all! So there was no way, she would have sex with her!

She looked around the forest. Shikamaru had taken first watch and lazily scanned every approach to their hideout. Not that she expected many people to still be around and hunt them. On the first day this team from rain showed up and their leader just walked up grinned at them, spike his killing intent, nothing like Sakura's, but still damn scary and took their scroll. They hadn't been able to do anything. He just walked in grinned at them and took the scroll.

Since then they stumbled upon a few other teams with similar experiences. The team from sound had just stared at them and muttered something about freaky high speed girls. They seemed glad to still be alive. She would have expected them to have met Sakura, but they mentioned a blond girl, not pink haired. So that had been out.

Either way, they were out. Only one day remained of the second task and they hadn't found one other team with a scroll. General consensus amongst the teams they encountered had been that a few teams had been so overwhelmingly powerful they had simply taken every scroll available and gone on to the tower. What remained where the normal teams, strong, but not nearly strong enough to stand against those super teams.

And since Ino had slept in Sakura's arms, just before the exam she had those weird freaky sex dreams about Sakura. They weren't even pretty in them. In fact both her and Sakura were really ugly. Scars and sometimes open wounds were the norm, their hair had been cut or burned off! But then, the sex had been strange, nothing like she ever imagined, even when she idly fantasied about what it would be like with a woman.

It felt more... like a way to be close to each other, more like a hug than sex really. But it definitely was sex and thinking about it weirded Ino out so she stopped and banished all thoughts about the matter out of her head.

She looked at their watch, nearly time for her to take over anyway. "Hey! Shika, my turn." She whispered at him. Just because no humans were, probably, out to get them anymore didn't mean that the animals weren't still out to get them.

He nodded and wordlessly left his place. "Anything happen?" She asked and stretched.

"I thought I saw a weird thing... eight legs really large, lots of claws, but it disappeared without any trace, must have imagined it. Or it's really good at hiding." He shrugged. "In either case not much we can do about it."

Ino nodded and took her position. She had never heard about a creature like that, but with the forest the way it was, somebody had probably strapped swords on a giant spider. Why anybody would do that she had no idea, but she bet somebody had thought about it.

-o-

Orochimaru sneezed as he walked back to his base. This fight really had freaked him out. Those children had been far stronger than he had expected. In addition Kabuto's defection and his disrespect. Something had changed, something fundamental, but he couldn't place his finger on what had changed. And why.

But he would have to find out and soon, or all his plans would fail, no doubt about that at all. Maybe he would even have to scrap the invasion totally. And he really didn't want to do that, he had invested far too much time into it. But if other ninja from Konoha had gained such a boost, if other allies had decided to betray him, it would end up in an unmitigated disaster.

No, he couldn't risk that, he would need to double check all his plans, as annoying as that would be. And if he found some serious flaws... he would have to stop the invasion, no way around that. Only if that proved to be necessary though, only then. He could salvage this he just knew he could.

-o-

Kabuto smiled as he watched the adorable little critters frolic through the woods. Truly they were magnificent creatures. Elegant, strong, communicative and deadly. It slashed it's claw at at a tree and managed to cut it in two, behind it another of it's kind ran around sniffling for prey.

Sadly no prey would be around anytime soon, these creatures were, for now, trapped between the worlds. He could let them out, but it would drain a considerable amount of his power and in time they would break out anyway, so Kabuto didn't really consider it.

What he did consider were the implications of their existence. In this new world they would cause quite the havoc, he had no doubt. The only question was, did he want them to cause it?

Certainly he enjoyed human suffering quite a bit. But to have suffering to enjoy you needed humans, if these things spread too far, too fast there wouldn't be many humans left soon. A lot of suffering true, but Kabuto could think farther ahead than a few years, he had been around for a long time after all. No, these things should stay where they were for now. In fact, he watched as a statue crossed over, this development endangered his plans considerably, he hadn't counted on the world to become so accessible.

"What to do? What to do?" He asked himself and turned back to his captive, one of Sasori's underlings. "So, tell me. What do you know about your master?"

-o-

"Jirayia." Tsunade sighed. "I honestly didn't think you would show up so soon... and with them in tow."

"And I didn't expect you to be over your fear of blood." He replied. "Anything we can do to help?"

She glared at Sasuke. "You can get him out of here, I don't deal with..."

"He's not like you remember." Naruto quickly defended Sasuke. "He hasn't betrayed Konoha ever."

"He did it twice." Tsunade growled. "Don't defend the little bastard."

Sakura chuckled weakly. "He's not that Sasuke, not even close." She added to Sasuke's defense.

"It's alright, if she doesn't want me here, I'll leave. Konoha needs her... maybe the whole world." Sasuke smiled serenely at Tsunade. It seemed to shake even the hard woman.

"I... fine he can stay, I suppose I can't blame him for bad dreams." Tsunade grumbled. "And I suppose Haruno can go and help the guys over there, they are over the worst. I assume these dreams affect you too?" She asked.

They looked at each other. "Depends on which dreams." Naruto said, peering at one patient, he looked pretty bad, but overall he seemed to recover. "In my world things worked out more or less ok, in her world... not so much."

Tsunade nodded and frowned in slight confusion when Naruto mentioned worlds. "Yes, then she gets to tend to those who are recovering. There's no way I'll let her near a critical case, hell even if she remembered every medical technique I taught her, I wouldn't trust her with the critical cases."

"I don't remember volunteering." Sakura sneered, but she did move towards the sick.

"So, can I assume you want me to come back and become Hokage? Before Orochimaru kills the third?"

"More or less, though it has more to do with the general situation than that." Jirayia confirmed. "We aren't the only people affected."

"No really? The entire country is affected, the rich as well as the poor. It's a small wonder there hasn't been a panic. Dreams, memories, some people act totally different than before... that number is small though, very small. Mostly ninja." Tsunade explained.

"Uhh, how do you know about that?" Sasuke asked, how had she heard from all those people?

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I'm a healer. You'd be surprised just what people are willing to tell us while we make sure they survive another night." She turned back to Jirayia. "Fine, I accept. I suspect I couldn't go against his wishes anyhow." She pointed at Naruto.

In the background a man screamed as Sakura did something painful to him. Tsunade didn't seem bothered. In fact, she seemed to approve. "Hit him harder if he tries again, if you have to break bones don't hesitate, I can just knit them back together." She shouted at Sakura. Ten seconds later another pained scream could be heard, just after the sickening crunch of breaking bones.

Sasuke winced, but if he read the situation right the pervert had it coming.

Jirayia in the meantime had stared at Tsunade. "Uhh... that... I honestly expected this to be harder." He confessed. "Not that I'm complaining, but I somehow feel disappointed. I thought maybe we would have some sort of training done, an awesome duel with Orochimaru and, you know. Something more exciting than, 'yes I'll do it.'"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "If you have the memories as well, then didn't we do this already?"

Jirayia's and Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yes." Both muttered at once. Apparently Naruto also wanted a repeat.

"Hmm... how did you know about Sakura anyway? And you said something about me defecting twice?" Sasuke interjected.

Glaring at hi Tsunade moved on to the next patient. "I've actually got two sets of memories, one I guess from the same world she got her memories from... and I really don't like to think about that one. It's... painful, very painful. And one from his place." She smiled fondly. "I like that one. I like it very much. There are painful parts there too. But for the most part it's nice."

Naruto nodded eagerly. "I know right? In the end everything worked out more or less alright... well beside the part where the pervert here died. But he won't do that here." He narrowed his eyes at Jirayia. "Hear that pervert, no dieing."

"I'm not planning to brat." Came the swift reply.

"Yeah, no Icha Icha books would be a real loss." Sakura confirmed after she had made her round. "Where's your apprentice anyway Tsunade?" She asked. "Wouldn't she be better for this? I mean I've only been training under you for a month or so."

"Shizune is resting, this plague is pretty bad, can't remember ever seeing anything like it actually. Going by the new memories, this hadn't been nearly so bad the last time I came through her. Just the common cold, maybe a bit stronger." Tsunade answered.

Sasuke frowned, he didn't like the sound of that. Glancing at Naruto and Sakura they didn't seem to like it much either.

"So, what do you think happened?" Sakura asked.

"Well, logically there are several different explanations." Tsunade answered. "One. This world is different from yours and the sickness is simply stronger. Two, it has somehow crossed from a different world. Or three, somebody made is stronger, for whatever twisted reason."

She finished with the last patient and gestured for them to follow her. "In either case, we can only do our best and hope it's enough." The walked through the building and up some stairs, shortly reaching a cozy little office overlooking the entire area. In a corner Shizune and Tonton were sleeping.

Tsunade grabbed a bottle of sake and poured each of them a cup. Sakura eagerly grabbed hers and downed it in one gulp, holding it out for Tsunade to refill. Sasuke looked somewhat skeptical at his.

Grinning Tsunade took a sip from her own cup. "What? You should be old enough to drink shouldn't you?" She asked.

Naruto also hadn't touched his cup. "Not really." He answered and glanced at Sakura. "She shouldn't drink. Honestly the only reason nobody says anything is because she doesn't actually seem drunk. And nobody tells ninja they aren't allowed to drink of course."

"Eh, they do actually. If they have to tell you. If they can claim they didn't see you though..." She chuckled and downed a new cup.

Jirayia only sipped on his cup. "Nobody's gonna think bad of you for drinking one cup." He told them, then turned to Tsunade. "Are you sure you want to become Hokage? This isn't something you should do just because dream you did it. You have to want the job."

Looking at Shizune Tsunade nodded. "I know, but Jirayia, have you seen the country? Really seen it? Have you listened to the people?" She stared at him, as he shifted around, uncomfortably. "I have, these memories and dreams. They unnerve people. Hell they unnerve you!" She stared into the alcohol in her cup. "Something needs to be done. Somebody has to find a way to stop whatever is happening. And if I want to stop it I need power, power the Hokage might have, power I don't have as just Tsunade."

Sasuke had to agree with her, that made quite a bit of sense.

"We don't know anything about what's happening. Sakura is the only one who might have an idea. But she didn't pay attention when things were explained to her." Naruto offered the bleak position they had found themselves in.

Tsunade nodded. "I've thought that would be the case. Well, my first order as Hokage would be for somebody to find out what the hell happened, and how to stop it from happening. Wait, didn't pay attention when things where explained to her? What do you mean?" Tsunade looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, well. In our case it's not exactly dreams... or even memories... uhh I think?" Naruto looked at his teammates.

"Well, the transfer should be fairly complete, memories, personality etc." Sakura shrugged. "But it could be that if we just transfer memories that's already the case, so who knows."

Naruto nodded. "Well, our memories are way better than most others I suspect."

Frowning, Tsunade looked at them closely. "Again, what do you mean?" She almost growled.

"What he wants to say is, that we remember traveling from our home worlds here." Sasuke explained. "We don't know if it's just memories or something more that had been send here though." Mostly because they avoided thinking about it. But if they were merely memories then they didn't kill the kids they were before, just... gave them another perspective...

"So you are saying this whole mess is your fault then?" Tsunade asked, her face dangerously blank.

Jirayia shook his head. "I doubt it, from what we saw at the chunin exam they weren't the only ones. And nobody can tell who came back first. That might be the real culprit. Or somebody from this side might be manipulating things, trying to pull something from another world."

Team seven looked at each other. "Madara." They muttered as one. "If anybody would try something stupid like that it would be him." Sakura said. "He has a flair for stupid and overly elaborate plans. Loves them to death."

"How would you know?" Tsunade asked, glaring at Sakura for the first time, since the girl entered her vision.

"Because he offered me a way out of that hellhole. I'm twenty five... or something close to that, didn't exactly keep time the last few years." Sakura grinned right back at Tsunade, who sunk into her chair.

"Good god, twenty five years... in that world? You... how did you survive?" She looked shaken, far more shaken than Sasuke had expected, he thought he understood, but if Tsunade reacted like that...

"Luck. Luck and friends willing to die for me." Sakura muttered, grabbing the bottle and emptying it in one gulp.

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah, I... I can see that." She stared at her hands. "And I suppose I can understand why you would be working for Madara, can't be worse than Danzo, that bastard is just as bad as him, if not worse."

"Another reason for you to become Hokage, we can't allow Danzo to take that position. Not now, not ever." Jirayia agreed.

Tsunade shot him a glare. "I agreed already, no need to try and make me want to take the job anymore."

He shrugged. "Sorry, I had that argument prepared and all. I wanted to use it too."

"Ok, so once we are done here you return and we start looking for Madara, we should be able to find him relatively easy right? I mean we practically know where his bases are." Sasuke put in.

Tsunade once again glared at him, but got herself under control very fast. "Sounds like the best plan we have at the moment, except for one minor detail. Who do you think can actually take Madara here?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again, he glanced at Naruto who coughed into his hand. Even Sakura looked elsewhere. Sasuke looked back at Tsunade. "Uhh... you know I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Chuckling Jirayia rolled his eyes. "You three are good... no better than good, you three are incredible. But against somebody like Madara, I fear your bodies lack the power to take him on. It's a small miracle you could keep Orochimaru occupied as long as you did."

Naruto snorted. "Not really, if he had just shown himself we would have had him."

Raised eyebrows met that remark. "Ok, maybe he would have been very stupid to face us head on after this, still... we could take him."

Shaking her head Sakura turned back to the two Sanin. "We'll need to train obviously, but we also need to stop whatever is happening." She grimaced. "If it can be stopped. I'm worried that whatever happened, it's only going to get worse."

Looking at Jirayia and Tsunade they shared that fear. And now that Sakura had said it, Sasuke felt the same fear come over him as well. Naruto seemed unaffected at first glance, but Sasuke could see the tiny frown, the fine lines on his face that said he didn't like this at all.

"Well, even if it does get worse, we'll just make the best of it. At the moment it looks as if everybody who came through is good right?" Naruto grinned, trying to take away the heavy atmosphere. Sadly he failed.

"At the moment. What happens if either of you suddenly gets the memories of my Sasuke or Naruto?" Sakura asked. And suddenly her eyes widened as she realized what she just said. She rounded on them almost immediately. "And don't take that as an invitation, because if you do I'll fucking kill you!" She shouted in their faces, produced a new bottle of sake, this time from her own stash and emptied it immediately.

Though Sasuke had a feeling that she would do something to herself right after she killed them. Hmm, if that were the case he should get Ino to intervene if there was so much as a hint that he would become Sakura's Sasuke.

"Understood." He told her seriously.

Naruto grimaced in the background. "No way!"

Tsunade pinched her nose. "You brats give me a headache and I'm not just talking about the memories. Why don't you go to bed? We'll talk more in the morning."

Sasuke nodded, that couldn't hurt, could it?

Sakura pulled out her sleeping bag and another bottle, she held as if her life depended on it and pushed herself into one corner of the room. Soon she had fallen fast asleep, her back against the wall. Naruto and Sasuke himself had opted to sleep closer to Shizune, where they had a better view of the warehouse and they were the farthest away from Sakura. Even though Sasuke didn't know whether she would like that or not.

With the newest revelation however, maybe giving her a bit of space for herself would be best. If she had new nightmares and woke up from them, they could still go over to her.

-o-

Kabuto frowned as he sat on the roof above the Konoha nin. On the one hand closing whatever pulled the various memories and creatures from where ever they came would also prevent anybody from following him.

On the other it meant that the fear and confusion gripping these lands would stop as well. And that meant he would have less fun.

He looked at his hands, until a third appeared. On the third hand, whoever made these rips in reality, if somebody indeed did make them and they weren't just a natural part of traveling to parallel worlds, would be extremely powerful, maybe powerful enough to challenge even Kabuto. And that just wouldn't do, he liked being the strongest monster around these parts.

Hmm, decisions decisions. The third hand disappeared again. In any case, before he could make any decisions of this magnitude he needed more information and that meant searching out Madara.

He grinned, if Madara wasn't the one behind this and he hadn't gotten an extreme power up, then annoying him should be fun.

After all, just messing with the "good" guys got so boring after a while. They just stopped reacting and went and died... they just couldn't take playing rough.

-o-

Well, I hope the fight against Orochimaru wasn't too disappointing. But he's not stupid enough to face off against all three of them and Anko, while he doesn't have a clear idea what they are capable of.

In any case, to prevent myself from burning out and deteriorating my writing quality even further I'm going on vacation, no more chapters for two weeks.(Well, one more chapter of expectations)

After that it's only one chapter per week since 20k words a week are hell on me and will burn me out sooner rather than later.


	12. Contamination

Fragments

-o-

Contamination

-o-

Madara leaned back, sighing. Another failure, one in a long, long string of failures.

He glared at the seals covering the ground in front of him. What use were they, if the only thing they showed him were failures heaped on failures. World peace seemed an unattainable goal, the way things again and again conspired against him.

He snorted. At least the other side couldn't win either. No sign of them bringing about world peace with their morals and forgiveness and all that crap.

"I must say, this is slightly disappointing." A voice behind him sighed.

Madara suppressed his first reflex to whip around and hurl a kunai at the intruder. Whomever had managed to sneak up on him and find his base, wouldn't be given him the satisfaction of him seeming afraid or even startled.

"Hmm? And why would you think so?" He calmly asked whoever stood behind him. Slowly Madara walked over to a table in the back of the room, grabbing a bottle of water. Tearing a hole into reality always left his throat extremely dry.

"Though... I suppose this does mean I don't have to worry about you overpowering me, so that's a definite plus." The person rustled around, observing the seals Madara thought, as he sat the bottle down and slipped his mask back into place.

His eyes twitched as he saw who had somehow appeared in his most secret base. Orochimaru's little toy medic. How the brat had made it here...

"Tell Orochimaru he'll regret sending you here." He growled, the little upstart would soon find that a move so bold would have severe repercussions.

"Oh, I don't work for him anymore. He's way too excitable really." Kabuto smiled at him, eyes almost completely closed. Madara guessed that his smile wouldn't have reached the eyes anyway if they were open.

"How did you get here anyway?" He asked, no sense killing the brat before he found the leak that allowed him to find this place.

"Hmm... are you saying you don't know?" Kabuto leaned his head to the sight, looking at him curiously.

"I wouldn't ask if I did."

"Hahaha... I see, you were too focused on this little experiment to notice what happened outside of it. Too bad really, but that does make things so much easier... hmm I wonder if there are equivalents beside the tailed beasts... worth looking into." Kabuto trailed of muttering to himself.

Madara felt a shiver running down his spine, outside of the experiment? The last month or two he had focused entirely on this experiment, each failure driving him to delve deeper into the vast ocean of possibilities... he had totally ignored anything outside his base.

"What do you mean?" He asked, doing well to keep the dread out of his voice, by masking it with anger.

It didn't affect Kabuto sadly, he merely cocked his head and grinned. "Oh, so sorry, but that's a secret." He suddenly stood before Madara, no hand sign, no flash of chakra, he just stood there! And patted his shoulder.

Madara shuddered, he had seen it before, in one of the worlds he had visited. A demon, born from the various tailed demons when they roamed the earth, feeding on human emotions. But that couldn't be, Kabuto still registered as human!

Barely keeping himself from flinching back, Madara focused on Kabuto's words again.

"...have to see for yourself I guess." The boy, or demon or whatever said. "I've got some pressing matters to attend to though, there are a few toys that I really need to fetch. They are simply so precious." Kabuto hugged himself. "I couldn't live with myself if I didn't give them a chance to play."

Grimacing Madara watched the thing disappear again. Were the hell did it come from?

Though he feared he knew, feared it very, very much. And it meant he would have to go out and see what the hell it had talked about, he suspected something had gone wrong. And his gut told him that cleaning this mess up would be extremely difficult.

If his suspicions were correct though... he might as well give up the moon plan. It had been fun, but it had only been practical because he had been the only one who had an inkling of the plan. Well him and his most trusted underlings. If others had even the slightest suspicion at this stage of it...

-o-

Sakura woke up, her eyes flew open and she stared at the ceiling. Another nightmare, but this time she hadn't been back in that hellhole. No, this time she had been here and Naruto and Sasuke had grinned at her, telling her that they would enjoy turning this world to shreds as well.

And everything from hell had followed them, plunging the world into another apocalypse.

She whimpered silently, she would kill them before she let that happen.

Slowly she forced her breathing back under her control, that hadn't been what had woken her up though. She had dreams like that before and something like that hadn't woken her up before. What had it been that shocked her so much?

She closed her eyes, trying to bring back the dream.

There had been a forest, she had been there before, walking with Jirayia and her teammates. Oh, yeah on the way to Tsunade, where she had seen the...

And the dream came back with the force of a sledgehammer. She had been where she had seen the hexapods, only it looked weird now, the trees kinda looked as if they had been doubled, or some did, others stood in different positions. And around half of them were withered and dead, especially those who had the weird doubling effect going on, one of the pair seemed healthy, the other looked like a tree in the wasteland back...

She shuddered, but the worst thing had been standing in the middle of the clearing. A small group of hexapods, shuffling around in confusion.

And on the edge of it all stood Kabuto grinning at the hexapods and cooing and squealing at them, as if they were a kitten or a puppy... that he didn't intend to eat.

And then... and then he did something to the bubble? Bubble surrounding the weird area, she could see it now, the hexapods were trapped in some kind of bubble. And Kabuto did something to it, touched it, making it burst, releasing the hexapods here!

Her eyes flew open and she grabbed a new bottled. "Oh god, oh god, oh god." She whimpered silently as she quickly emptied the bottle, not bothering with filtering the alcohol out. The nightmare...

"Wake up Sakura, it won't be any fun if you don't warn anybody about this before they become a dangerous pest." She had heard him say and then he winked at her, in her dream.

She immediately flushed the alcohol. "Shit! That little rat bastard!" She cursed. He couldn't really do it right?

But what did she know about him? Obviously he came from a different world as well. And somehow Temari had brought that weird dagger with her, so maybe he could bring whatever power he had back there with him?

She groaned and lay back down, panicking wouldn't do her much good, not as if a few hexapods were that much of a danger. Sure, they would become a real pest real quick, but with a stable, more or less, power structure around they should be containable. Just another danger while traveling.

She forced herself to continue breathing evenly. Hyperventilating wouldn't do her any good, at all.

"What's wrong?"

Tsunade had woken up as well it seemed.

"Bad dreams... or maybe a message from Kabuto." She frowned. "I wish I knew what he's actually capable of, so I knew."

Tsunade frowned. "A message from Kabuto? You haven't mentioned him." She mirrored Sakura's frown. "Wait, he's come back as well?"

Sakura nodded as she propped herself up again. "He has and the first thing he did was make a fool out of Orochimaru. I don't know what he's thinking... but... but... in the dream, he released a few hexapods into this world. Why would he do that? Why would anybody do that?"

Tsunade winced. "Why would Naruto do it?"

"I still figure Kyuubi controlled him."

"Maybe it's something similar with Kabuto?" Tsunade looked around. "Come on down, it's still early and we don't need to wake the others."

Sakura nodded and wormed her way out of her sleeping bag. "I'm worried, if Kabuto can do that, so can others."

Tsunade looked at her funny. "And you aren't worried about his ability to invade your dreams at all?"

Sakura shrugged at her. "Meh, I'm sure there are other ninja capable of that. Unpleasant, but not entirely unexpected."

"Fair enough, let's see how the worst cases were, you take care of those close to recovery again." Tsunade sighed.

Sakura figured she wanted to distract herself from thinking about the various possibilities of what could come from the other worlds.

An hour later Shizune joined them, rolling her eyes at the early risers. "You really should get more sleep Tsunade. And who are the men? And her?" She pointed at Sakura and over her back.

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Can't help when we wake up really." Sakura answered for Tsuande. "As for who we are, Konoha nin here to make Tsunade Hokage."

Shizune looked at her for a second and nodded. "Ah, Tsunade said something to that effect, glad you showed up. Though why they send children..."

"They are pretty competent for their age." Tsunade shrugged indifferently. "Anyway let's get to work here, with Sakura taking care of the recovering we can focus on the worst cases."

Shizune nodded and gave a grumbling Sakura a quick smile.

Sakura still didn't like being commandeered to heal people. Breaking people had become so much more satisfying.

Of course, the pervert from yesterday considerately allowed her to indulge in those urges a bit. Had to give him points for persistence, which he lost immediately due to stupidity.

It took another hour for the men to make it down. Tsunade immediately ordered them to make breakfast and let them work in peace.

Soon though the menfolk had managed to make a passable breakfast and they all converged in the office again.

"Well, the plague really seems to have run it's course, two more days and I'll be finished here." Tsunade said as they sat down.

"Can we help?" Sasuke volunteered quickly. Sakura rolled her eyes, stupid goody two shoes.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, when she looked at him, only Shizune smiled thankfully.

"You can carry heavy loads I suppose, now that the situation has calmed a bit we can make some more room..."

"Tsunade! Tsunade! There is a new group here!" A villager shouted from the entrance. "They have it bad, even worse than the last batch!"

Tsunade sighed. "Damn, seems like we might still need those beds." She pushed herself up and quickly walked over to the man and the group of peasants. Directing the stumbling and groaning mass of humanity to beds.

She frowned at one of the women in it. "Didn't I heal you last week?"

"I... yes. I followed your instructions, but the sickness came back again, just stronger." The woman hung her head.

"I'll start with you then, lay down here." She pointed at a bed and immediately started to work. Shizune at her side. Sakura took over assigning the other people to new beds, using the men as enforcers. Not that she couldn't do that herself, but more people did make it easier.

-o-

"Damn it. It's man-made, some sick fuck is making this plague." They found themselves in the office once again, Sasuke had made tea for them all, not trusting Naruto to get it right. He could make an adequate cup sure, but Sasuke noted with pride that he himself could make a good cup.

"Kabuto maybe?" Sakura immediately had a guilty party, though Sasuke would suspect Orochimaru for something like this, much more his style.

"I doubt it, even if he released those hexapods, I don't think he had the time to develop something like this. And he never seemed the type to go for some slow sickness that won't affect ninja." Tsunade shot the theory down.

"It won't affect ninja?" Jirayia asked for clarification.

"Our chakra will protect us, I should have seen it on the first victim... well no, I couldn't have seen it. This thing is very, very well made. Whoever made it is a genius, probably a ninja too. Maybe these people are just a testbed, a way to research the effects and make the plague more potent, until it can also overcome a ninja's chakra protection." She shook her head in disgust. "But even if it's not, if this is the goal he needs to be stopped. The plague isn't that contagious yet." She looked around a frown on her face. "And if I hadn't been so focused on healing all those people I might have noticed that too... damn he's good."

Naruto frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Simple, it's all very subtle. The plague shouldn't spread so fast. It's not transferable by air, or water, only direct contact can infect you. And then it needs to be blood. Of course the victims cough blood, but so many?" She swept over the moaning mass of humanity. "I assumed they were all infected by something else, mostly because according to my memory I came across something similar last time.

"I shouldn't have trusted those so blindly, but it made... bah, no sense moaning about it. And I have you three here now." Tsunade smirked at the men. "Sakura will stay here and help me with the sick, while you go out and put a stop to whoever is infecting these people."

Sakura squeaked in protest.

"Don't complain, you are the only one with any education in medical jutsu. I expect more sick will come in and I need all the help I can get. They are way too clumsy to help so it's you."

"But I hate healing people. I like breaking them." Sakura whined.

"Though luckily, you are a ninja again, not some lone wanderer." Tsunade glared down at Sakura. "Act like it."

Sakura sighed but straightened up. "Have a washed up failure telling me this. "She grumbled as she walked back to the less sick.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"It better be." Tsunade muttered and turned back to Jirayia. "Luckily our culprit seems to be focused around this village and foolish enough to stick around. I asked the victim that gave me the hint where she lives." She shoved a rough map at them with a few descriptions. "My first order as the fifth Hokage? Go and take that sick asshole out. I don't want to have to worry about people like him here as well."

They all nodded, though Naruto seemed a bit more reluctant, which Sasuke still found strange. In his world even with all the things that were better, killing still had been normal. At least once he got older. He tried to avoid it when possible, sure. But he did have his fair number of kills, no denying that.

"You can count on us Tsunade." Jirayia nodded. "Just keep an eye on the girl, she's dangerous."

She snorted and looked in the direction where Sakura had disappeared. "I know how dangerous she is... or had to be to survive the world she left. Before I died it got pretty damn bad, even if I didn't notice most of it, that I noticed."

She shook her head sadly. "I can handle her, just make sure you handle that bastard."

"We'll take care of him." Naruto grumbled as he looked over the people below. Sasuke noted with satisfaction that whatever reluctance he might have had, disappeared after another look at them.

"Good, come on Shizune. We have a lot of work to do."

-o-

The village they found themselves in two hours later barely deserved the name. The locals told them it was more of a trading post for the various farms outlying it. It seemed the are didn't have problems with bandits or animals in a long time. The plague the first real problem in a long time. Even the various wars had not affected the village, for it was hidden away from the main trade routes and strategical roads.

As they arrived Jirayia once again told them only to drink water from their flask and food they brought with them. They had no idea how they could infect themselves.

There seemed to be a sense of fear in the air of the village, fear and sorrow.

Soon an older man approached them. "Uhh, how can I help you?" He asked cautiously, his eyes flickering to their hitai-ate again and again. Probably the first time he had seen a ninja Naruto thought.

"We are here to stop this plague that seems to be a problem for you people." Jirayia quickly told him, a confident smile on his lips.

"You are doctors? And you came straight to us?" The man asked shocked.

"No, ninja, we think..." Jirayia trailed off frowning, then shock his head and sighed. "We think somebody is spreading the plague and we are to have a look at it."

The look of horror on the mans face, who hadn't even told them his name Naruto noticed slightly miffed, told it all. "Who would do something like that?" He asked horrified, before his expression slowly changed to one of anger. "I bet I know who..."

But Naruto stepped in, before any accusations could even start. "Please calm down. It probably isn't anybody from the village. Most outlying villages have been hit, so whoever it is has to travel a lot."

He hated that knee jerk reaction of blaming the village pariah and there was always one. The man immediately deflated. "I... yes I suppose you would be right. And the old hag has been here the entire time."

Sasuke smiled at Naruto and gave him a thumbs up. Jirayia merely nodded. "Can you tell us where the Unryu farm is? We would like to search for hints there, if the Unryu even have a farm."

Naruto could tell that would make it easier to notice anything.

"Yes, yes they have a farm. Do you think they..."

Naruto groaned, the man seemed to really want somebody to blame. "No, they have nothing to do with it. But I'm sure you notice that they have been infected by the plague. Even worse than the first time. So obviously whoever is to blame had to be there."

The man deflated, almost like a beat dog. "Oh, yes, yes I suppose."

Naruto glared at him until he felt Jirayia's hand on his shoulder. "Ok we'll be going then, as soon as you give us directions to the farm."

The man gave them quickly. "Could you tell me when you get the culprit? I mean..." The man begged. Naruto snorted in disgust, Sasuke merely shook his head.

They made it just out of earshot when Jirayia spoke up. "Village cohesion is an ugly thing, but necessary." He sighed. "He's trying to find somebody to blame, so the village can come together again. To fight somebody. It doesn't even matter if they are guilty or not, at least not to the village. They want the illusion of doing something about it."

Naruto grunted. "It's an empty solution. They gain nothing from it and they hurt innocent people."

"Well, they feel good about themselves." Sasuke grumbled. "Your father always complained when something like that happened." He smirked nastily. "And then went and shoved their noses into just how stupid they behaved. Made them pay for it as well. And much more than whatever the danger they did 'something' against would have cost them... had cost them anyway. In the end he managed to stamp the practice out, once people realized that the illusion wouldn't be worth the real cost."

"Sounds like a good idea. Once I'm Hokage I'll do it just like him." Naruto nodded. Jirayia seemed amused by the idea.

"It will take careful planning and balance to pull that off Naruto. Think you are up to it?"

"Of course I am. Just you watch old man!" Naruto shouted. Though he did try to keep his volume at a bearable level.

They reached the farm a few minutes later, they didn't sense anybody close, but since the entire family had made the trip they hadn't actually expected to find anybody anyway.

"Too much to hope for to still find the culprit close I suppose." Jirayia muttered to himself. "Ok fan out and search the area. Naruto have a look at the well, Sasuke check out the animals. I'm going to see to their crops."

Naruto nodded and made his way to the well right in the middle of the farm. He also send out several clones to scout for an additional well, maybe closer to the crops? In any case his clones might stumble over a hint, so even if they didn't find another well they might be useful.

He noticed Jirayia watching him. The older man nodded and shot him a quick smile before he disappeared in the direction of the fields.

Naruto send another clone down the well, no need to go in there himself after all. Though he honestly doubted anybody would have been so blatant as to poison this one, that stood in plain sight of everybody in the house.

He frowned as he followed his clone's descent. Maybe he should have gotten some water out before he send his clone? The soft blue glow of his chakra dimmed as his clone descended even deeper.

And how should he know if anybody had tampered with the water anyway? Taste test? He supposed he could do that, they could be back with Tsunade relatively easy after all.

"Gah!" He heard a shout from below followed by a splash. He sighed, his clones still had trouble acting as mature as himself, the fact that they weren't real allowing them some leeway in how they acted. Stupid clones.

"I'm alright." Came the shout from below. "But the water doesn't seem to be any different, and I couldn't find anything on the walls either.

"Did you check everything all the way to the bottom?" Naruto shouted back. Sometimes you just had to give additional instructions.

"Yes yes. I did, everything."

"And there was really nothing?"

The clone dispelled itself and gave his memories to Naruto. And, just as he said, he hadn't found anything in the well. Naruto shrugged. He hadn't really expected any find, maybe a few coins, but nobody seemed inclined to throw coins into the water. Probably because nobody had any to waste.

One after another his other clones dispelled reporting the same thing, no clues whatsoever.

Sasuke returned before even half of his clones had disappeared with roughly the same results. The only deviation would be the conclusions that farm animals were murderous beasts and totally deserved to be slaughtered and eaten.

Jirayia made it back before the last ten clones disappeared. He didn't have anything to add either.

"Well, this was a bust." He admitted, "We don't have anything to report, the farm seems to be in perfect condition and the plants, the water and the animals seem to be healthy as well."

"My clones haven't found a hint of anybody hiding around the farm either." Naruto reported.

Sasuke snickered. "We can see that." He pointed at a clone who had scaled the building and used it as a lookout, never mind that he couldn't even see over the next few trees.

Sasuke stopped snickering however when the clone's eyes widened and he disappeared. Naruto frowned as he sorted out the memories. "Uhh... maybe we should go on top of the house? I think I saw something."

A second later the three of them stared down on the ground, and onto the barely visible seal, etched into the ground so large standing on the bottom you wouldn't be able to see it.

"So... any idea what it's for?" Naruto asked Jirayia. He had come far in his seal studies, but really he sill preferred jutsu. Seals needed too much time to prepare than what he usually had after all. And he had Jirayia to ask questions.

The man in question shook his head, watching the seal in the shape of a bend and fractured arrow carefully. "There are even more seals hidden in the ink, but I can't make them out." He muttered. "I'm not sure I could, even if we were close. The ground isn't exactly made to hold a seal for long."

Sasuke frowned at the thing. "Is it still active?"

With a sigh Jirayia shook his head. "Luckily not. It's likely an one off seal, infecting everybody in the area of effect, then going dormant."

"Not everybody had been affected though." Naruto pointed out, only the mother and the father of the family.

"Well, they likely let their children do the fields for once." Jirayia smirked at him. Sasuke nodded in the background.

"Well, I suppose that's another reason not to have sex. You can catch diseases that way." He countered, frowning down at the seal. "But if they worked how did they not notice somebody doing that big ass seal?"

They jumped down and Jirayia knelt down to examine it closer. Naruto walked the edges searching for any hint on who or what had applied it.

"Hmm, it's kinda like the cursed seal of Orochimaru." Jirayia said after a few seconds. "You don't need to put a lot of chakra in and can apply it in a second. Maybe even over a distance. Also, civilians wouldn't even notice the spike in chakra. Not as if this needed any killing intent to work."

He spat at it. "Naruto? Can you get a scent from this?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Jirayia. "I'm not an Inuzuka, admittedly my nose is good, great even. But even Akamaru would have trouble getting any scent from something at least a day old."

"Well, I suppose we'll have to let whoever did this escape then." Jirayia shrugged indifferently.

"I hate you. I hope you know that." Naruto grumbled and focused his chakra on his nose. Kiba would pay for ever teaching him that jutsu. Even if he hadn't actually done it yet.

He leaned down and took a whiff of the ground, only to immediately recoil. "Gah!" His hand shot to his nose and mouth as he nearly keeled over. "Oh god, this smells so wrong! It smells as if... as if there's, I dunno. It's bad though, wrong."

He glared at the seal. "We should destroy it."

"Can you follow whatever it is?" Naruto quickly walked away from the seal and used the jutsu again. Stupid kyuubi enhancing his nose enough to make the jutsu feasible. If it hadn't then he wouldn't have to smell that!

The scent had become bearable as long as he didn't breath in through his nose. And he could smell a trail, much weaker, but it led away from the seal. Two trails to be accurate.

"Yes, they came from there." He pointed at the forest, his face a mask of disgust. "And returned to the forest here. Can we please destroy the thing? I really don't think it's actually spent. Maybe dormant, but it still has juice."

Jirayia frowned down at the ground, a hand wandering over the seal. "I suppose they could have put a seal in there to hide the chakra... step back."

Both Naruto and Sasuke moved away from the thing, Naruto much faster than Sasuke, but he just couldn't get the scent out of his nose. With a quick breath and a few hand-seals Jirayia torched the entire thing.

Something flickered before Naruto's vision, for a brief second the smell of wrongness intensified, then it thankfully disappeared again. Leaving only the much muted trail and a few remnants buried in the torched earth.

Jirayia and Sasuke frowned as well. "What was that?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

Jirayia just shook his head. "Whatever dormant energy remained... once we are back we'll let Tsunade have a look at us. We need to hurry though. Whoever did this, he might have been connected to the seal." He spat on the ground again. "Naruto lead the way."

-o-

Naruto quickly jumped through the forest, leading them after a trail Sasuke couldn't see and thankfully couldn't smell either. Even the sharingan had proven useless. Whoever they followed, he could hide his tracks well.

"It's getting worse again." Reported Naruto. "I think we are getting close to whoever."

"Any info you can give us?" Jirayia asked scratching his arm. Sasuke felt his eye twitch as he fought to ignore his own desire to scratch himself. The damn thing had affected them. Hopefully they would still be in a condition to fight when they reached the bastard behind it.

"Sorry, I can tell you how many different scents there are and how old they are. I have no idea what they mean though. And I honestly only guess on how old they actually are, you know I just know where they are weaker. Might also have left less of an imprint." Naruto shrugged and scratched himself furiously. "Damn it, why am I itching like that."

"So, you are the ones who destroyed my gift to this world!" A voice scratched out. They all stopped in their tracks and turned to the figure standing in front of them, they hadn't even heard him move.

Jirayia stepped in front of his charges, shielding them with his body. Somehow the figure managed to stay hidden, even in broad daylight. "Who are you?" He asked, while trying to get any hint on what their enemy looked like. He seemed shrouded in shadow, glowing red eyes regarding them hatefully.

Suddenly Sasuke gagged in disgust. "It's a henge, and damn, does he ever need it!"

The figure's glare shifted from Jirayia to Sasuke. "You would mock his holy gifts? Even when you are blessed by them?" It growled, turning a very unhealthy shade of red under the henge.

"Oh god, I don't want to end up looking like him!" Sasuke whimpered repressing the urge to scratch furiously. The thing in front of him had large patches of skin missing, probably from scratching the ugly black fungus off.

"What's the big deal?" Naruto asked, probably wanting to see the freak.

"So you want to see the glory the lord has bestowed upon me mortal?" The figure asked eagerly, a second before it dropped the henge, revealing a rail thin body of undefined gender. It might have been female at one point, but the chest had rotted away, revealing the ribcage beneath. And the pants, as full of holes as they were, hid anything else from view. A fact Sasuke found himself very thankful for.

"Ok, I get why Sasuke would like to avoid looking like you... can you turn the henge back on?" Naruto asked twitching like crazy, his hands had stopped scratching himself as soon as he saw the true form of the thing.

"You dare mock me as well? I shall grant you the full blessings of the lord, so you can understand his glory and his mercy!" The figure... whined. It didn't have the lung capacity to roar anymore.

Plenty of agility though Sasuke noted as he dodged the attack. How could the thing move that fast with muscles like that? He frowned and his sharingan spun wildly. 

"He's saturated in chakra, as if... shit!" He dodged another punch. "Don't touch him, he's covered in some sort of... chakra armor? It's living though."

"The glory of the lord shall purge you of your destructive desires!" The thing screamed. "All life is sacred and you would destroy it, it and all I worked for. I've granted this world a gift! But you and your whore killed it!"

"Man, you should be glad Tsunade isn't here." Naruto quipped.

"Or what? The whore would try to steal the great gift the lord has bestowed upon me? She can't! She isn't powerful enough!" The madman screamed in response.

"No, she would simply have turned you into a smear on the ground." Jirayia deadpanned as he dodged the puss that somehow squirted from the things body.

"Hmpf, the great lord of life wouldn't let a ruthless killer like her touch me. Just like he won't let you touch me." It said, though it frowned at their ability to dodge every attack it send their way.

"Her a ruthless killer?" Jirayia blinked in confusion. "While you kill people, or well try to kill people, like that."

"Bah, people! Who cares about people one life for millions, no billions!" Sasuke dodged another punch it threw at him, Naruto stood back for some reason just outside it's range. A slight frown on his lips.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke shot back, ignoring the itches all over his body. He just hoped they weren't sores developing, he would have a hard time attracting girls if his face resembled the moon.

"All those things that live in your body all those little lives! Aren't they as important, no more important than a meager human life? And if the human can't survive while giving them room to live on his body, is he even worth the live wasted on him?"

"Err... no." Sasuke shook his head. That thing had it's priorities extremely warped, no point talking to it anymore.

"Hmpf, you are as biased as they all are, but I will show them the glory of the lord, of life unshackled!"

Sasuke stopped listening, instead he shot a fireball at the walking pestilence dispenser. Jirayia had been kept back with the squirting shots of puss... and where did they come from anyway? Shouldn't the thing have run out at some point? The forest looked like a giant had vomited all over it. And the trees and grass it hit had already wilted!

"You are so gross." Sasuke complained as the thing easily rolled out of the way, into the real fireball.

"Iaaaahhh!" It screamed as the fire burned it's screen of whatever... slightly away. "How dare you hurt them? How dare you kill so many of my friends?" It whimper roared again and moved even faster. Only his sharingan saved him and only barely. He could feel a spittle of something hit his left arm, sending a ripple of pain down it and into his chest.

"Guh!" He moaned jumping back again and again, until he had put some distance between the thing and himself. "What..." He coughed up blood and stared at his hand. "What did you do to me?" He groaned. The pain seemed unreal, but he forced his way through it, maybe because it seemed unreal.

"I showed you the glory of the lord!" It cackled. "Submit to the lord and embrace the pleasure he grants you!"

Sasuke shook in disgust and pain, he wouldn't submit to a freak like that! He glared at the thing his sharingan sending images of Sasuke healing into it's brain.

"Hehehe, that doesn't work on me little boy. Your lies can't affect a chosen of god!"

"Or the insane." Jirayia panted looking worried at Sasuke. "You don't look so hot Sasuke."

"Where are you?" Sasuke ground out, he felt weaker by the second. And he didn't want to know what the stuff in his veins did to his skin!

"Dodging whatever it shoots at me. It's crazy! No matter how much it shoots it always has more!"

"Ok and where is Naruto?" Sasuke growled, he could have... his fevered brain registered the attack too late. Another gob of puss came flying his way, Jirayia had already moved out of the way, but Sasuke couldn't move fast enough. And if that hit... if...

Naruto stood before him, seemingly out of nowhere. "He's right, this is life." He grimaced as the gob hit him head on. "But it's corrupted, growing far too fast utterly out of control." He glared at the thing. "And it doesn't like dieing even though dead is a part of life."

"Sage mode..." Jirayia whispered.

"What? How can you repel the lords gifts? How can you spit on them like that!" The thing attacked again and this time actually managing a roar it slammed into Naruto, sending the both of them to the ground. But Naruto flipped it over himself and send it into a tree, following it on it's heels, simply ignoring the things fluids dripping off of him, in a way Sasuke could never do.

"Raseshuriken." He simply said, sending the perfected rasengan into the thing. It howled as the attack nicked an arm, even as it somehow made it out of the main attack.

Naruto and the thing stared at each other, hatred rolling off in waves of the thing, disgust came from Naruto. It's arm hung limply at it's side. "You killed them! You killed them all!" It howled.

"No, I didn't kill nearly enough." Naruto muttered, to Sasuke's horror he seemed to breath harder, much harder.

Sasuke coughed again, more blood landed on his hands. He would have to get to Tsunade fast, he stumbled barely keeping himself on his feet.

The thing charged Naruto again, heedless of any defense focusing entirely on the boy in front of it. A smirk played over Naruto's face as a kunai intercepted it, the blade sinking right into it's head.

"Again, Raseshuriken." He roared, sending another of his attacks at the monster, that struggled to it's feet again. This time it hit it's center, it didn't even whimper, or if it did Sasuke couldn't hear it over the roar of the wind... or was that his own blood?

He ground his teeth, he had to stay awake, who knew what would happen if he fell asleep? Every breath he took send a sharp stab of pain through his chest, his vision already swam. Only holding onto a tree kept him standing at all.

"That's..." He coughed more blood. "That's it hopefully?" He asked weakly. How could something like that work so damn fast?

Naruto nodded, though he looked flush as well. His short painful gasps told the story, whatever disease the freak hat infected Sasuke with, Naruto had caught it too, probably even worse, considering that he had been hit full force and not just a drop.

"I... the Kyuubi is doing it's best to keep whatever it is back..." A series of coughs wracked him and forced him to his knees. Red blood and yellow puss mixed on the ground. "But it's not exactly doing a good job of it." He groaned.

"Damn it..." Jirayia looked at them in horror. "I..." He shook his head and quickly two shadowclones of him appeared. They grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and brought them out of the clearing. Sasuke could see Jirayia look around the clearing, before he walked out, stripped out of his clothes and here Sasuke wished his eyesight had been worse, and proceeded to incinerate everything within the clearing. The fireball had been big, almost one tenth as big as that fireball he made with Gamabunta for the spring festival five years ago.

Sasuke smiled, that had been the day Sakura had given him his first kiss...

-o-

Naruto stared straight ahead, he couldn't really do anything else. Sasuke had fallen unconscious before they had even started traveling and Naruto only managed to hold on thanks to the Kyuubi. And the fluff-ball had problems of his own. Whatever the stuff was the freak infected them with, it affected the fox as well as Naruto. Both of them were sick.

How a chakra construct could even get sick Naruto had no idea, but he knew bad news when he heard them.

"Hold out a little bit longer Jirayia muttered, still mostly naked, though Naruto didn't blame him one bit. Who knew how much of the gunk had been on his clothes? Whenever Naruto or Sasuke had leaked a bit onto the ground Jirayia had burnt the stuff away. Sasuke hadn't actually stopped leaking in a while. Naruto wished he could tell if the other boy actually still lived. He certainly hadn't said anything in a while.

"I'll... try..." He managed to force out of his cracked lips. Dry lips, since every bit of liquid seemed to have gone to the production of puss and sweat. He tried licking his lips, but his mouth felt as dry as Suna on a hot summer day.

And he could hear whispering, not loud enough to make out words, but loud enough to be annoying. Everything hurt, every limb, every muscles, every organ. He wondered if even Tsunade could do anything for him now. He didn't think so, something this pervasive...

He blinked, how come he could think at all? He should be a gibbering wreck going by the temperature he had to be running at.

"How... far?" He asked Jirayia.

"Nearly there." The older man said, burning another puddle of pus.

Naruto noticed that he could indeed see the warehouse close in.

A cough made him try to look around. "Jira..." He coughed himself.

"We're nearly there." The old man said, his hands slapped together, probably forming another seal. "I'll send a shadowclone ahead, so we don't endanger the other patients."

Naruto would have nodded, if he had the strength. He hadn't though only... his eyes widened. "It... chakra... too..." He stuttered.

"What? That's impos." He shook his head. "Damn, I'm gonna leave you here then, gonna go and get Tsunade myself, won't make much of a difference."

And he tore away, even as he pulled a strip of cloth across his face, where did he get that anyway? Better not to think about it.

Maybe a hidden scroll?

Naruto didn't know how much time had gone bye before Jirayia returned with Tsunade in tow, spurting a new hand-print on his face and some pants at least.

Tsunade only needed to look at them once, to determine that they needed help now. And she sent Shizune out to fetch Sakura. Or he assumed she did, the whispering had gotten louder, much louder.

"She's a murderer, she's going to kill you! You have to fight her, beat her, purify her!" It seemed to be an endless litany. "We can make you stronger, just trust us."

He growled at the whispers and he could hear the Kyuubi with him there, howling at the intrusion and the rival for Naruto's mind. The thought almost made him smile, but smiling hurt, just like every other movement.

"We can make the pain go away! Submit and be reborn!"

"Oh shut up." He sighed resigned, the Kyuubi had more subtlety than those voices.

-o-

Sakura wiped the sweat of her brow, she hated looking after the sick. At least there were no dieing here. She hated that even more, much more. Better to just end it quickly instead of dragging it out for who knows how long.

She laid a wet blanket on the head of a little girl after she made sure her temperature had gone down at least a little bit. Since Tsunade had gone out to take care of the others Sakura had been alone in here, making sure the situation didn't worsen for some of the patients. So far she had no trouble with her job. It just tired her out, seeing all those sick people and keeping up the slight chakra shield, that prevented infection of herself.

In most cases at least, now and again a particularly stubborn intruder made it through, mostly the immune system dealt with those. Giving another glance at her charges Sakura nodded and left the room, she needed to have a look at the boys and Tsunade, if just to make sure they hadn't all died while she took care of the other sick people.

She glanced at the little girl again, but quickly shook the feeling off. It didn't feel that good really, killing the enemy felt much better.

She stepped into the darkness outside, her eyes immediately drawn to the flickering light in a tent a little bit off the warehouse.

As she came closer she saw Tsunade slumped against the edges, obviously tired but not in despair.

"How's it going?" She asked the woman, who didn't even bother looking up.

"Slow, very slow. We're winning, but... if that sickness didn't keep them alive, there would have been nothing we could do." Tsunade finally looked at her tired drawn eyes locking with Sakura's. "Whoever designed that virus... or bacteria or... I don't know! He's a sick genius." She looked at her trembling hand. "It's incredible, really. It spreads so fast, feeds on chakra and even though it damages large parts of the body it actually enhances the fighting abilities of those it infects. If they can work through the pain of course."

Sakura's eyes widened. "That... that sounds a bit like..."

Nodding Tsunade let her head fall down, "A bit like Sasuke, yes. Or maybe Orochimaru." Her hand trailed figures in the sand. "But neither of them could have created something like this. It's... it's impossible, it shouldn't be possible. Nothing like this should be able to exist, even with chakra."

Sakura stuck her head into the tent, Jirayia looked alright, as he paced between the two occupied beds, but he also seemed tired, as if he had gone through a long sickness.

Naruto looked the same, tired and worn, his muscles somehow had already atrophied after only a day! She glanced at Sasuke and almost recoiled, the boy looked as if he had lost all his muscle mass, he wouldn't have looked out of place in a grave. His skin hung off him as if he wore a human skin coat. She quickly stepped back walked away and puked her guts out.

"What, what the hell is that? It will take years for them to recover from that!" She stood in front of Tsunade, shaking in horror.

"No, they won't. As I said, whatever that is, whatever it does. It shouldn't be possible for it to exist. And luckily... this world seems to agree." Tsunade looked up at Sakura. Her eyes wide with fear. "Jirayia, before we could heal him looked as bad as Sasuke. He's back to his old self already. He just regrew all that muscle mass... do you have any of that sake left?"

Sakura handed over a bottle and sat down with one of her own. "That's... how why?"

"I have no idea, none at all." Tsunade stared at the shaking bottle, or the bottle in her shaking hand. "I just know, this has something to do with what's happening to the world. But I just don't know what, or how it's possible at all."

"Gimme that." Shizune sighed, grabbed the bottle out of Tsunade's hands and took a deep gulp. "Your turn again, I can't continue to work, just can't."

Tsunade nodded and pushed herself up, entering the tent slowly. Sakura looked at Shizune, sympathy in her eyes. "I know why I'm not a medic nin, it's just, things like this."

Shizune snorted. "It's not the state their bodies are in Sakura, it's not the sickness itself. We can beat that, we are beating it." Their eyes locked and Sakura could see the madness Shizune held barely at bay. "It's that it shouldn't even be possible that's getting to us. It shouldn't be possible for a sickness to just destroy any defenses of the body. It shouldn't be possible for a sickness to make a person stronger, even as it destroys every bit of muscle mass a body has! It... it..." Shizune drained the rest of the bottle in one go. "It's utterly insane is what it is." She closed her eyes and leaned into Sakura. "I just want this to end, just want to get away from here and this freaky sickness."

Sakura awkwardly hugged Shizune, she had never been friends with the woman. They had just never gotten very close. But she knew what a breakdown felt like and that you needed some comfort during it.

"Hey, as soon as we are done here I'll make sure you and Tsunade go and have some fun, you know relax, forget all about this for a few days ok?" Sakura smiled at the older woman. Who smiled back and nodded, before her eyes closed and she slumped into Sakura even more.

"Let's hope Tsunade doesn't need you any time soon." Sakura muttered, holding the other woman close. Kinda felt nice to have somebody holding onto you. Or holding onto somebody.

She didn't know how long they stayed like this, but at some point she heard Tsunade's voice, tired, rough and on the edge of a breakdown. She had heard her own voice like that often enough.

"Sakura could you come in please? I need some help."

Carefully she deposited Shizune on the ground and walked into the tent. Naruto and Jirayia had disappeared, leaving only Sasuke left. He looked better as well, much better. "I... this..." Most of his muscle mass had returned, and while the color hadn't, he didn't look as if he should be dead already.

"Yeah. I sent Jirayia and Naruto away, so they don't get reinfected. You know the basic medic shield?" Tsunade had her eyes closed and Sakura could see just how much her hands were shaking. Her entire body actually. Seemed like Tsunade had reached the end of her rope.

"Yes, want me to make sure he's stable until you've recovered a bit?"

"No, I need you to finish this. I know you don't have the training, I know you don't want it. But you have even better chakra control than I have. Which means you can do this, if I give you instructions.

Sakura grimaced, she could heal minor wounds, sure but a sickness? A sickness like this?

"It's easy, you just have to draw the little weird bits out of his body, while keeping up a barrier between the parts that you've already cleaned. It's just a long and hard process, nothing difficult or complicated. Hell healing even minor wounds is more complex." Tsunade slumped into Sakura, breathing heavily. "But... I can barely see straight. I can't do it anymore." Sakura nodded, she could understand that.

So she delved into Sasuke, her hands hovering over his chest, getting a feel for the various barriers Tsunade had erected. And she quickly realized that Tsunade had lied to her. The barriers were works of art, leaving blood to go through, while filtering out contaminants, to ensure the body still got what it needed. She shot the older woman a glare, only to see her slumped on the floor, sound asleep.

Sakura groaned, nobody to help her here. She supposed she could just make sure that Sasuke would be stable until either Tsunade or Shizune woke up again, but a quick scan of the barriers confirmed to her that they were weakening. Without somebody repairing them constantly they would eventually break down.

"Damn it. So I have to make sure you're clean before they break down? Damn it." She cursed at the boy sleeping beneath her. "Where are Jirayia and Naruto anyway?"

Knowing her luck also passed out somewhere, not that she could blame them, even if they recovered impossibly fast, the sickness would take a lot out of them. Though Naruto at least should have recovered by now.

She took a deep breath, this would be just like enhancing her own brain, extremely careful application of chakra on select places, making very sure that nothing got damaged while drawing out the... what the hell where these things anyway? Whatever, draw them out and... she looked at the burning oven beside Sasuke. Burn them she supposed. Sounded good, she wouldn't want any of that around either.

Quickly she delved into Sasuke again, his torso had been mostly cleaned, only his arms and legs were left actually, his head had been taken care of as well. So, this shouldn't be too hard. God she needed a drink.

With minimal effort she managed to snatch the first thing and draw it out, deposing it into the fire, not that anybody would even notice it without chakra, but that had just been a test-run, so she got back to work, eyes closed and concentrating on catching hundreds, thousands of the things, pump them to the top of Sasuke's skin, contain them, while going forward, she couldn't simply stop, not without the ability to erect a barrier in the cleaned parts.

Grimacing she continued, she would have to clean the entire arm before she could stop and dispose of the stuff. If she had to start at the torso she wouldn't have been able to do it. Even just one arm taxed her concentration to the limit. And she didn't dare enhance her brain, she didn't think the net benefit would be great enough to justify her split attention, never mind that she could only do that for a few seconds before she would damage her brain.

She focused on how much she still had to clean of the arm. With relief she noted that she had gone three quarters of the way already. She could feel the sweat dripping from her face, in the abstract at least. Only the contamination mattered, only cleaning the cells of the filth.

And she could see it clearer now. Just how wrong the stuff felt. It twisted, turned, almost like an animal, fighting against her control, without a brain, without even any senses, they knew when Sakura grabbed them. They knew and fought.

A dark grin spread over her face. "Shouldn't have started fighting you little shits." She whispered. "I love fighting. I love killing. I love destroying my enemy." Her grin widened. "And even better I love doing it with perfect precision."

In a weird way the realization that she actually had a fight going here, helped her focus. So much that she blinked as she came to the end of Sasuke's arm and noticed that she had run out of things to fight. She stared at the blob of something for a few seconds. Then, her grin still in place she pulled them over the fire. "Burn you little bastards burn!" She could feel them struggle, feel them try to escape. But they couldn't and soon they all died in the fire.

"Purge the inhuman filth." A deep voice said in her head. Sakura whirled around, looking for whoever said that.

"Maybe... maybe I shouldn't enjoy this so much." She muttered shakily to herself. This became weirder by the minute.

She quickly went over the arm again, finding no more of the things she nodded to herself and started on the other arm. The barriers wouldn't hold forever and she had to hurry.

-o-

Sasuke tossed and turned, but his captors held him easily. He couldn't do a thing to shake them.

"You will listen to the glory of the lord! To the mercy and freedom he offers you!" Another said, shrouded in shadows, standing in front of Sasuke. "He will make you strong, much stronger than you could ever imagine."

"I'll never follow that twisted freak you call your lord." Sasuke spat, shakily though. Even here, where ever her was, he could feel the pain.

The shrouded figure punched him, hard. Sasuke groaned, as if his body hadn't experienced enough pain already. "You have no choice but to listen to us! We are your destiny!" The figure chuckled. "We are the only way to strength! To power! Every other choice you have leads into death!"

Sasuke managed to stare flatly at the guy. "Is there a requirement to make every sentence an exclamation to your cult? Cause if it is, I'm not interested. You should ask Naruto, he might actually consider it."

Another punch landed in his face, forcing him to stop chuckling. "You will show respect soon enough brat!" The figure growled.

Sasuke blinked, something had changed, he hadn't noticed at first, but somehow... he laughed. "No, no I don't think I will, not to you at least." His chest had stopped hurting, well a bit. While the majority still hurt like a bitch, his heart managed to pump blood much easier. Somebody was healing him. Which meant... he looked at the figures holding him in place. "Genjutsu." He sneered at them. "So, this is just an illusion, nothing more. Easy enough to break."

The figure in front of him growled. "Oh, you think so? Your eyes couldn't help you against our brother, what makes you think they'll help against us!" Again it punched him, but the pain seemed muted now less real.

"Because this is my battlefield freak. And here there are other rules." His eyes changed into the sharingan attempting to see through the illusion. Sasuke tried not to show his disappointment, he still could only tear through the most basic illusion. Not the entire thing, he still had to hold him in place, he still had to punch him.

"Useless as I said!" The leader gurgled, puss and blood running out of his mouth. Maybe seeing the true him might have been a bad idea. "You are trapped within the domain of our master, and you won't escape, no matter what the whore is attempting to do!"

One advantage of being able to see the real them though, their feet were clearly visible. "Whatever you say freak." Sasuke answered, waiting for the expected fist. Just a second later it landed in his face and the two bastards holding him moved slightly, to keep on holding him.

But this time he moved with the punch, twisted ever so slightly and crushed one guys kneecap. The guy went down hard, the bone snapping as if it consisted of wood. His now free arm slammed into the face of his other opponent. And a quick jump back got him out of reach of the last one.

"So, I'm not getting free am I?" He taunted the thing.

It only sneered. "Where will you go! Only the master can show you the way!"

Sasuke shook his head, the thing actually believed that, but he could already see walls through the gloomy black mist. Stone walls, familiar stone walls.

"Keep telling yourself that. Meanwhile, I have an appointment with reality." He took a step back and another one, the creature didn't try to follow it shook his head and gave him a horrible imitation of a smirk. "You can't escape."

Sasuke shrugged and stepped out of his mind. It felt as if he moved through molasses, or through a very soft wall. He had to fight to get through this, probably the lingering sickness, he could still feel it, though his entire torso had been cleaned by now.

Maybe that was the reason he could simply crush his holders? Weakened by Tsunade?

It didn't matter, with every passing second he could feel himself become stronger.

Behind him he heard an outraged roar, cursing and shouting, mostly at Sasuke, though also at the lord, the farther Sasuke moved away and the fainter the voice became, the more it cursed that lord, Sasuke could only laugh. Apparently the lord didn't have quite the hold he pretended to on his followers.

He could see a light now, far away but coming closer and closer. And he moved towards it faster as well, soon, soon he would.

He opened his eyes and stared at a haggard Sakura. She had her hands over his legs, sunlight framed her back as her hands took the last bit of pain from his body, leaving only bone crushing fatigue.

A large blob of sickly yellow-green something floated at the end of his leg, until she disposed it into a burning container. He couldn't see what it looked like. He felt too damn tired.

"Oh shut up you stupid bastard. Hopefully once I'm rid of this I'll never have to listen to you rant again. Purge the unclean huh? Yeah fuck you too. You're not the boss of me." Sakura muttered to herself, clearly the night had taken it's toll on her... or it could just be a natural insanity. He had no doubt she had those as well.

"Hey." He muttered when she turned back to him.

"You are awake." She replied, staring at him. "Good, then Tsunade can take care of the rest. I'll just go outside and fall asleep on the soft, and nice grass. Good night."

He watched her stumble out of the tent and into the mentioned grass.

He opened his mouth to ask where Jirayia and Naruto were, or Tsunade and Shizune, but really. Her idea had merit, sleeping made a lot more sense.

-o-

I am back.

Hope the chapter didn't disappoint.

For those asking, yes the enemy was inspired by Nurgle. However I don't know enough about him to write him anyway close to WH40k canon, so I'm not even trying. I'm just stealing the idea and making it mine.

Hope this does highlight that not just good things come through.


	13. Perspectives

Fragments

-o-

Perspectives

-o-

Naruto moaned as he slowly climbed back to consciousness. He had a headache, not the first he had, certainly. But the first he could remember that didn't involve repeated blows to the head.

Or massive amounts of alcohol. Did he do anything that justified such a headache? Fought that utterly disgusting freak, got so sick his bodies defenses might as well not have existed at all, got dragged around? And then he had been healed by Tsunade. Slowly he nodded to himself, that should have been it, so if Tsunade did heal him, why did he still suffer from this headache?

"You're awake, good." Shizune said above him. "Here, you should drink this. You're horribly dehydrated."

He blinked at her for a second, before he eagerly grabbed the proffed bottle. The water felt incredible, it tasted better than anything he had ever tasted, in the last week at least.

"Yes, Sasuke and Sakura reacted the same when they woke up." Shizune smiled down at him. "Can you stand?"

He frowned and moved his arms and legs. Everything seemed to be in working order, so he pushed himself off the sleeping-bag and onto his feet.

"Seems like it. You said Sakura and Sasuke are up already?"

Shizune raised an eyebrow. "Sakura is, though she's still very tired. Sasuke is awake. He isn't actually mobile." She shook her head. "Though as soon as his headache's gone he hasn't stopped talking." A small smile crept over her lips. "I'm glad though, that means he should be walking around again soon." 

Naruto nodded, at least Sasuke hadn't recovered faster than him. That would have been embarrassing, having the more or less normal Sasuke recover before him, and him with the Kyuubi to help! Never mind that Sasuke had suffered way worse than him.

"Any idea why I've been out so long?" He blinked. "How long have I been out anyway?"

He stumbled a bit, but caught himself before Shizune could. The rumble in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't been fed either.

"You've been out for a little over two days. Sasuke woke up a few hours ago."

"Oh... uhh you have some food right?" He held his stomach piteously.

Shizune nodded, as she led him to a small campfire. Jirayia and Tsunade argued quietly. Sakura stared into the fire, at something that could have been a fish at some point. Now it resembled charcoal.

"Ugh, eating that all the time can't be good." Shizune complained as she sat down on the other side of the fire. Naruto sat down beside her.

Sakura looked up and shrugged. "Eh, I can't really make it any other way. Where I come from... well, let's say this is still healthier than everything else you can do with the meat. Or the plants for that matter."

"Hey Naruto." Sasuke waved weakly from his pallet close to the fire. "Glad to see you're up again."

"And mobile." Sakura added with a smirk.

"Yeah, just couldn't wait to get back up." He looked around, they were in a forest, not in the village anymore. "Where are we?"

Tsunade spoke up. "Nearly back at Konoha. We should reach it tomorrow."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Two days had been good then. Very good. "We are in a hurry then?"

"We have to do something about this. Whatever that freak was... we can't have more like him coming here. Madara and Orochimaru are bad enough, add things like this freak and Kabuto." Sakura shuddered.

"Yes, I really don't want to know what else is out there, I can't imagine it being pleasant." Jirayia piped in.

Naruto nodded, but as he did so he noticed that Sakura scanned the area since he had arrived. Probably before then as well.

"You expecting trouble?" He asked her.

"Yes, you remember my dream about Kabuto?"

He nodded quietly.

"This kinda looks like the place where he released them. I'm not taking any chances." She stared into the darkness, trying to find anything he guessed.

Jirayia followed her gaze. "I'm not so sure there actually is anything here. Even if he had released them, wouldn't they have left the area to hunt or something?"

"Not if there are so few of them. They would have set up a hive, to breed more of them." Tsunade said, Naruto could see a faint tremble in her hands.

Sakura nodded. "Exactly, those things were so dangerous because they could multiply so fast. They don't actually need food. They are just chakra constructs. They can eat, sure. But they don't need to."

"Wouldn't there be signs though? Damaged trees or something?" Sasuke asked from his position on the ground.

Sakura relaxed a tiny bit, enough to take a drag from her ever present bottle. "I suppose."

"Doesn't mean they can't be around here though." Tsunade reminded Sakura, increasing the paranoia of the girl again. Naruto glared at the old woman. Had that really been necessary?

Suddenly Sakura stiffened. Just as Tsunade did the same.

"They are here." She whispered.

-o-

Orochimaru stared at the reports before him, reports detailing again and again that a large number of people had weird dreams, visions or memories.

He slumped into his throne. He had actually had some of those himself, a failed invasion and a last plan to make things right. To return to the past, into a healthy body, with a very clear idea of what went wrong.

Only one problem with that, he needed a sharingan for his plan to work. And more energy than even he had. The memories told him, that after a few years of working on it he had failed, both in acquiring a sharingan and in gaining the energy needed to use it efficiently. So that Orochimaru had given up, his life's dreams and ambitions for naught.

But, through some fluke the memories had come to him. Somehow, the others plans and desires had jumped to him. He glared at the papers in front of him. Now if only they hadn't also gone to other people. He would have been the ultimate force, blessed with foreknowledge, able to adapt his plans before his opponents... bah, no use thinking about it. The brats obviously had an even better version of this transfer. Giving them not just ideas, but the very personality of those in another world.

He grinned cruelly. Of course, that meant that the actual kids had been killed, when the new versions of them took over. They had been overwritten, as if they were nothing more than data. Maybe he should fling that into their faces the next time they meddled with him?

He glared at the reports again. Not as if it would make a difference. They weren't the only one's back. And there were more and more people with the memory imprints as well. Mostly ninja, so it probably had something to do with chakra.

In any case, his plans were useless now. He couldn't know who his allies or his enemies were. He couldn't predict how anybody acted, couldn't even predict his own actions in a few days time, assuming this got worse. Another Orochimaru might be able to actually overwrite him given enough time.

No, he would have to stop this, before it got out of hand, before he actually replaced himself. Quite ironic, really if he were to die that way. He didn't appreciate irony though, not at all.

"Tayuya!" He shouted. A second later the girl in question knelt before him. "The invasion's off. Whatever is happening..." It really rattled him, he might have explained himself. "Inform the rest. I'm going to find out what exactly is happening."

And judging by his counterpart either Sasuke, Itachi or Madara had something to do with it. Or anybody else who had access to the sharingan.

Sasuke however couldn't have done it. He was far too young even discounting the personality transplant. Itachi just didn't care about stuff like this. He had been damaged too much. That left Madara. Orochimaru really didn't look forward to dealing with that bastard. He only had the faintest idea what the man could do. And only luck had given him the idea that Madara had somehow survived. Survived and continued to meddle ever since.

Leaving aside where Madara actually hid though, it still left him with the question of how to stop whatever the old fool was doing. Mostly because Orochimaru had his doubts the old man had any idea of that himself.

Because there could be no way Madara wanted to create powers like the three brats. The only thing limiting them would be their chakra reserves. And in Naruto's case even that might not be the case. Damn fox.

Closing his eyes he leaned back. This had gotten far more complicated far too fast. And he had no idea what to do.

"Hi there."

Orochimaru slowly opened his eyes. Kabuto floated in front of him, drinking a cup of tea.

And here he had hoped he wouldn't have to think about that traitor.

"What do you want?" The brat could apparently appear out of thin air and disappear like that as well, so no point trying to catch him.

"Me? I just wanted to have a little chat. Maybe about stopping Madara?"

Slowly a grin spread over Orochimaru's face, curiously mirroring the boys. "Oh? Afraid you might lose whatever control you have over the situation?"

"Exactly. At the moment the chaos is pretty low key. Just enough to make things difficult for people." Kabuto shrugged. "Just enough for me to enjoy myself. But if you add more to this. Well, I'm afraid things will get out of hand, people will die in droves and..." He hummed.

"And?" Orochimaru prompted.

"Well, that is a secret."

Orochimaru rolled his eyes, did the brat think this was funny? Or even just irritating?

Kabuto frowned for a second, but caught himself quickly. "Oh well, I'm willing to hand over Madara's base of operations. He needs to be stopped." A smirk appeared and disappeared on his face. "I'm even giving you this info for free. Others will have to pay far more for it."

"I'm sure." Orochimaru deadpanned, the brat seemed very sure of himself. But sooner or later, he would make a mistake, and when that happened... the two men smiled at each other.

Out of the corner of his eyes Orochimaru could see Tayuya, standing stock still, pale as a sheet.

Oh yes, this would be interesting, very interesting.

-o-

Sakura whimpered quietly as the first hexapod stepped into sight. The bastard had done it, he had released those things onto this world. If she survived this she would hunt him down, skin him, heal him, skin him again, cut off his limbs...

"Sakura! Focus damn it!" Tsunade shouted. However, Sakura could hear the slight tremble in her voice. The woman knew what these things were capable of, knew they could tear through ninja with sickening ease, knew that...

Tsunade's hand slapped her cheek. "I said snap out of it." She growled.

The hexapod still remained at the edge of the clearing, simply watching them. Or waiting for backup. They always preferred to hunt in packs. Sakura took a deep breath and quickly downed the rest of her alcohol. She could see Shizune ready her poison thrower.

"Don't bother with that." Tsunade instructed her. "They are more chakra than anything else. Poison has little to no effect on them."

Sakura could only nod, watching the thing... things, two more had joined the first, watch them.

"We should act now, I hear more coming." Jirayia muttered, looking around the clearing.

"God damn it! And I'm too weak to fight!" Sasuke complained from his place on the ground. They would have to place a guard to protect him.

Sakura quickly looked at Naruto, he had been quiet so far. A spike of fear ran down her spine. Naruto stared at the things as if in trance, evil red chakra bubbled all over him, slowly taking on the shape of a fox.

She whirled around to the hexapods. They seemed to react to the chakra, getting more and more agitated, hopping from leg to leg, chittering to each other.

"Naruto? Are you still there?"

-o-

Naruto looked around, into the familiar darkness of his mind. "Fox. What did you do?"

A dark chuckle rumbled through the chamber, quickly changing into full blown laughter.

"Me? I didn't do anything. Whatever those things are however... they were created from my chakra, from my power. And with them this close, ahh I can feel myself getting stronger." The laughter started up again. "Powerful enough in fact, to overpower this feeble seal." The fox seemed to twist his head in thought. "I bet I can take over, then what your little bitch fears will happen. I will roam the world with a pack of those things, killing everything in my path." It licked it's lips.

"Hmpf, don't think I'll let you out of here."

"As if you had a choice meat bag. You failed in that world, why wouldn't you fail here?" Suddenly the fox rammed forward, against the bars of his cage. They held, barely. Naruto winced as mortar fell from the ceiling. A quick glance confirmed that the ceiling had developed cracks all over it.

The fox definitely could break out now. And if that happened, well Sasuke probably couldn't stop him here. And this time the fox could start with something, he had those things already.

On the other hand...

"Hey, Mom? Dad? You in here? Because I could really use the help."

The fox rammed the cage again, widening the cracks in the ceiling.

"They are here, but..." Naruto whirled around, coming face to face with another version of himself. A version as young as...oh shit. "But they aren't sure if they should help you."

Naruto glanced back at the fox, who had stopped his escape attempts to watch the new arrival.

"There are two of you brats here? Ugh, how annoying." A grimace spread over it's face.

"You... you are, you are the one I replaced aren't you?" Naruto asked faintly.

The other him nodded weakly. "I... yes, I am."

Naruto felt sick to his stomach, he had taken this kid's body, his life. Especially if you realized that he had essentially traveled to a different world. His breathing quickened, and he had lost all his friends. Whatever he had here, they would be new friends, new enemies, not the same people at all. He had tried not to think about it. And he supposed he had succeeded admirably. But, seeing the kid in front of him...

The Kyuubi rammed it's cage again, rattling the rods. It provided some badly needed focus to Naruto. Existential crisis later, solving the Kyuubi escaping now.

"Why won't they help? Because... I well, took over?" He asked, nervously looking over his back.

The kid in front of him nodded slowly. "I... I think you are awesome, all those awesome techniques, how strong you are." He looked down. "How people just accept you."

Their eyes met as the kid looked up again. "But, but this is my life! I wanted to live it, not have somebody else take over. Why should I just hand this over to you?" He crossed his arms.

"Well, you shouldn't, really." Naruto quickly admitted, even as he looked over his shoulder. Did the Kyuubi start humming as it slammed against it's cage? "But in this situation I think the destruction of Konoha does take priority to that don't you think?" The damn fox had really done a number on the cage, some of the rods were already bend out of shape. How would it look from the outside? Would he have time to take control? Or would Sakura and Tsunade kill him before he could be taken over?

He looked back at the mini Naruto in front of him, head bowed and fists balled. "It's not fair, I nearly made genin. This time for sure."

"I know. And trust me, if I had a choice I wouldn't have done this, I had friends back home. A lot of friends. I didn't want to abandon them, but here I am. And we are in this situation. Do you really want it to end like this? With the Kyuubi free? Or do you want to be a hero? Maybe we can work something out after this is over. But if we want a chance... then I need help, I need to keep the Kyuubi confined."

The kid looked down, but nodded slowly. "I know. I don't want the old man to die, or Iruka. And that's what will happen if the Kyuubi breaks free right?"

"Yeah. That's what will happen, probably."

"Mom? Can you help him?"

Naruto looked away from the kid and at the young woman who seemed to melt out of the shadows.

"Uhh..." He wanted to hug the woman, for all intends and purposes she was his mother. And then again she was not. Damn parallel worlds, this gave him a headache. "...hi."

Kushina nodded at him, a small frown on her face. "I can't say I'm happy to have you here. Even if you are... kinda... his brother." She shook her head. "But you are right, we... you two can deal with that later. For now the Kyuubi is more important. I can help you control it, for now, but that will only be a stopgap. And you'll have to find a solution yourself, I am just an imprint, I just don't have enough energy to help you again."

Another crash behind him underlined her words. Still, she knelt down beside the original Naruto. "Don't forget, mommy loves you very much, don't let that bully take over. You are more than strong enough to fight him!"

Naruto winced, that hurt and not just because she called him a bully. It felt like his own mother just told somebody else she loved him more than him. He put it out of his head, no the time to think about it. He had a fox demon to imprison.

"You ready?" Kushina asked, stepping up beside him.

"Always." He answered, barely resisting the desire to add mom.

"Good, then here I go!" Kushina jumped forward, into the cage, chains sprung out from her and slammed into the Kyuubi. Once again Naruto could feel that chakra, this time though he could feel it resonate from him, from his body. Kushina didn't use her own chakra to bind the Kyuubi! She used his own!

He grinned, he could learn to use that himself, so he wouldn't have to rely on her to do this the next time.

With a roar the Kyuubi fought the chains, somehow he managed to rip out several. Still, Kushina managed to hold her ground and send out more chains.

"Would you hurry up? If you haven't noticed the fox is stronger than it should be!" She shouted, her voice hoarse from the strain.

Naruto nodded, rammed his fingers together and created his army of shadowclones. It worked once after all. Why wouldn't it work again?

They jumped through the cage all holding a raseshuriken. The expression on the Kyuubi's face was as priceless as the first time.

"Oh fuck." It managed to mutter before the barrage slammed into it, tearing at it, ripping away skin, and tails. Slamming it into the ground, hard.

As soon as the Kyuubi had stopped struggling against her Kushina had focused her attention on the walls and the cage. Her chakra, Naruto's chakra, seemed to melt into it, reinforce the cage. The walls repaired themselves, the bars set themselves solidly again and a thin layer of chakra protected the cage from another assault.

The Kyuubi growled from it's position on the ground, slowly the damage from Naruto's assault had been healed. He frowned and sent another wave of clones at it.

Once again he beat it into the ground, but the damage seemed no worse than before.

"It's useless. You can't kill the fox. And without any seals I would advise against trying to take it's energy." Kushina frowned at the thing. "You should get out of here. I'll hold the prison together. But you need to either get away from those things or kill them and fast. I don't know how long I can reinforce the prison."

"I..." He looked at her, the woman that might as well be his mother. "I..." He looked down, he stole her sons life, he didn't have the right to complain.

Her expression soften somewhat. "I know. It's not exactly your fault... I... good luck..."

He blinked the tears away and found himself outside again, facing a pale Sakura and at least six of those things.

"Ugh, I think I preferred facing the fox." He muttered.

Sakura sagged into herself with relief, Tsunade too he noticed.

"Careful! Here they come!" He shouted, as the first of the things charged them, the others hot on it's heel.

-o-

Sakura whirled around and threw herself to the side, rolling over her shoulder she jumped up, flung a kunai at the first hexapod she saw and jumped over the claw of the one that had rushed to follow her.

She didn't have any weapon really that effective against these things. Her kunai could only scratch them and her speed increased the damage only marginally. She landed nimbly leaned out of another slash of those damn sharp claws and spun into a kick. Her foot connected solidly with the things face, sending a familiar burning sensation through her leg as the chakra flowed over it for a few seconds.

Luckily the damage would be minor for the most part, sadly the same could be said for the creature. Sakura's kick had barely phased the thing and with a sigh she jumped into a back-flip, landing on a tree, overlooking the battle.

She could see seven hexapods, one focused on her, one focused on Jirayia, one on Tsunade and four on Naruto. Oh god, how would he hold them off, she had the feeling that using the Kyuubi's chakra would be a really bad idea for him right now. Not that he seemed to have much of a choice, he still had his red aura burning brightly. Wait a second... did those things grow around him?

Her eyes widened and not because the hexapod below her had decided to cut her tree in half.

"Naruto! Hurry!" She shouted even as she jumped to another tree, peppering the thing below her with kunai. She would save her explosive one's for the other four, not that they would do too much to them, but they would distract them much more than...

"Shizune! Behind you!" Tsunade shouted to her apprentice, who had taken up position by Sasuke's side, watching the battle and making sure nothing got to the boy.

The woman in question whirled around, eyes wide in a near panic. Sakura felt her heart stop as the claw came down, leaving a red smear in the air. Shizune staggered back and for a second Sakura thought the thing had gotten her. But Shizune straightened and flipped to the offensive almost immediately, charging the thing and landing punch after punch against it.

The claws seemed to flail helplessly against her, but Sakura could see where they managed to nick the woman.

However, she had her own problems and really should focus on the thing below her. Once again it had sliced the tree she had used to stay out of reach in half, but the way this battle went she couldn't afford to play it safe. She needed to take it out hard and fast. Even if that meant driving herself to exhaustion. She just had to hope reinforcements wouldn't make themselves known.

Taking a deep breath she focused her chakra, still slightly depleted from healing Sasuke or more precisely the chakra exhaustion she suffered after she healed him and jumped onto the back of the hexapod trying to kill her. A savage grin lit her face as she let loose, her fist crashing into the hull of the creature again and again, far too fast for anybody to follow. After a second she heard the crunch of her fist breaking into and through the armor of the thing.

As she pulled her fist back for another punch, she grabbed an explosive kunai and drove it onto the back of the thing. It bucked and lashed out with it's claws though, forcing Sakura to abandon her position on it's back. She growled as she only managed to drive the kunai into the armor still protecting the things back.

Still, the explosion sent the thing to it's knees, or what counted for knees amongst those things.

Wincing Sakura looked around the battlefield. Thanks to his clones Naruto had managed to keep the things at bay, one even had been swarmed and somehow the clones had managed to rip it limb from limb. Very impressive that. Jirayia had at some point finished his target and move on to help Shizune, who had to fight with two more of those things.

"Damn, how many are there?" She whispered angrily. There were only two when she had dreamed of them. But those things did multiply so damn fast if given half a chance.

Shizune didn't look good either, she had so many cuts all over her body...

Sakura leaned back as another hexapod flew past her, crashing right into her own, which just had gotten back to it's feet.

"If you have time to stare finish them off!" Tsunade shouted, remaining absolutely spotless. No, not spotless. The thing she just punched across the clearing had gotten her in the shoulder, punched clear through. Of course, Tsunade had healed the wound almost as soon as she had a moment to spare, at least as much as she could.

Sakura nodded quickly and charged the tangle of claws and flesh that represented the two hexapods. They would disentangle themselves soon and she had to kill them before then.

Tsunade rushed right into the melee that had sprung up around Naruto and Sakura lost her almost immediately amongst the sea of orange and red.

In any case, she had to focus on her own goal. Two exploding kunai in hand she once again boosted her speed, groaning quietly at the strain it put on her. She just didn't have the reserves to keep going like this, not anymore and certainly not after coming this close to totally exhausting herself two days ago.

Still, she slipped around the claws, swinging aimlessly, she could feel them move in front of her nose and slammed the first kunai into the hole in the things chest. In the same motion she flipped over it, kicked it off the other thing and rammed her kunai into it's ruined back. The target had been widened thanks to the previous explosion.

Another kick threw her away from the things, just in time to watch them explode into a shower of gore.

She landed on her back, breathing heavily and shaking. She couldn't even muster the strength to stand up again. Stupid weak body.

She barely managed to push herself up and have a look at the battle.

Shizune and Jirayia had taken care of their own targets, with little trouble it seemed. Shizune had managed to close most of her wounds in any case and already jogged towards Sakura. Jirayia on the other hand went to support Tsunade and Naruto, not that those two needed the support. They had reduced the remaining three hexapods to one. And that one didn't look as if it would hold out much longer either.

In fact, before Jirayia even reached it Tsunade slammed into it from above, splattering it all over the clearing.

A quick scan revealed that no other pod had materialized itself, so Sakura let her head fall back onto the ground. "Glad that's over..."

"Are you alright?" Shizune asked, her hands glowing as they hover over Sakura.

"Yes, just... just exhausted." She closed her eyes. "I've not recovered yet and damn, those things... I..."

"It's alright, we took them out." Shizune muttered, pouring chakra back into Sakura. But the shaking of her hands made it clear that the woman hadn't much left herself.

"These things..." Naruto walked up to them. "I? I created them?" He still had a faint red shimmering around him, but with each second it faded more.

Tsunade shrugged. "As far as I remember yes. But I don't remember it that clearly."

He shook his head. "They made the fox stronger, strong enough to almost break out of the cage. If my... if..." He closed his eyes and slumped to the ground. "We should get out of here. We need to get back to Konoha, find a way to stop whatever sends these things here."

"We should get out of here, yes. I doubt that we've seen the last of these things. They never send all of themselves away. I bet they build a nest somewhere around here." Sakura whimpered at the thought, but they had to have build one. Otherwise there would have been far less of them.

"Then we have to take the nest out." Tsunade decided, Naruto and Jirayia nodded. And she could just bet Sasuke did as well.

"We are far too close to Konoha to let them just build their influence freely!" Jirayia added.

"But we don't know how many there are left. We aren't exactly fresh and if you and Tsunade do leave us..." Sakura trailed off, glaring at them.

With a sigh Tsunade nodded, a bit of sweat did run down her face Sakura noted.

"She's right, we know too little and can't leave the poor kids alone here, no matter how much I would love to go and take these things out before they become a problem." She shrugged. "As soon as we reach Konoha I'll send out a group to take them out." She looked around the clearing. "A strong group..."

Sakura nodded to herself, that sounded good. For now though she would love to just get enough rest to regain her full strength... what little she had.

-o-

Temari smirked at the messenger from sound. He had come to tell the Kazekage that the invasion had been called off. Something to do with the chaos all over the elemental countries.

She supposed even Orochimaru wouldn't be foolish enough to try anything with what's going on. She quickly dismissed the guy, thinking about her options now. If the invasion had gone through she would have the perfect opportunity to take out the Kazekage, or let Orochimaru take him out, then rally the troops around her and take over. Now that looked like less of an option. Especially since more and more people had these dreams of other worlds.

She sighed, she needed to take over. The Kazekage had just managed to run this country into the ground, create an extremely unstable weapon, easy to control though, if you just showed him a little bit of love.

Still, how to use that to take over? If she could control Gaara would she be able to take on the Kazekage? Maybe, risky though, very risky, she would need the support of the village as a whole as well.

The window above her broke and a body flew through it, some chunin? Several kunai stuck out of his chest. She raised an eyebrow as the body landed before her. Assassins against her father? What brought that on?

"For... Gaara..." The not corpse muttered, trying to crawl back up the tower. He didn't get far though, some guards showed up and killed him.

Temari looked at them, as they dragged the corps away, maybe she did have more support than she thought, if people did something this suicidal for Gaara?

Something to look into, before the Kazekage decided to kill Gaara for sending out assassins against him.

-o-

"So you were right. You aren't the only one who somehow traveled here."

"Yes, there were many of us in Konoha, most among the genin, but I think one or two jonin also came back. We can't be sure of those though."

"That means any invasion plans are off the table of course. Maybe if we were the only one's with knowledge of the future."

"Well, we aren't and I'm not even going into how the other players changed the future. We are obviously not from the same world, the few I talked to all had different ideas of what would happen in the near future."

"I see. We'll have to be patient then, figure out how and when we can profit from the situation."

"There's one more thing."

"Yes?"

"It's still happening, and it seems to be getting worse. When I left I heard rumors that objects appeared out of thin air, some say even creatures appear that way, no proof of that though."

"Well, nothing of the sort happened here."

"We are a small village after all, maybe it depends on the number of people close together?"

"Maybe. In any case, we need to observe this further... and maybe do something about it."

"I don't know, the more chaos the major villages suffer from..."

"The more we will profit from it, since it seems we are more or less left alone."

-o-

Itachi glared into the small cup on the table, sadly it had little effect, as little as the alcohol had on him. Mostly because he hadn't actually drunk any. He had only stared at the cup, like a good little shinobi, resisting temptation.

"Alright Itachi. What's wrong with you?" Kisame asked, sitting at the other end of the table. Not concerned, never that, but at least curious. "You ordered sake, so I thought you might want to loosen up a bit." Not as if he ever drank either. They hadn't reached their status through slacking off. "But you've just stared at the cup since you bought it. Maybe a little explanation, so I don't have to worry about you going insane and killing me?"

Itachi repressed the twitch of his left eye easily. Kisame seemed on edge as well, now that he thought about it. Much more confrontational.

"None of your business." Itachi countered icily.

Kisame stared at him for a few seconds, before he shrugged and looked out of the window. "Suit yourself."

Flashes of dead bodies ran over Itachi's inner eye and with a barely suppressed grimace he took the cup and dumped it's contents on the floor. No point dulling his mind with it, he wanted to fight these... visions? Memories?

He felt very sure they weren't genjutsu. Genjutsu he could have dispelled, these he couldn't. He could only banish them.

"You know?" Kisame asked conversationally. "I heard some interesting things today."

"Hnn." Itachi faked interest as best as he could, which in his current state amounted to not at all.

"Apparently weird stuff is happening all over the elemental countries. Memories, visions all that fun stuff." He stared Itachi right in the eyes. "Of the same person even. Only not." He waited for Itachi to answer, but Itachi remained silent. He had heard the same, experienced the same. "It's especially prevalent in ninja... some heard rumors that ninja and people had even changed totally over night."

"Preposterous." Itachi snorted. Only maybe not so preposterous. He had heard some strange things about Sasuke's behavior, strange, worrying and somewhat disturbing. His little brother wasting time with girls? Simply too strange.

The flash of images and feelings, Sasuke flirting with two girls at once, amusement, annoyance... pride, were quickly banished. Ninja had no time for such frivolities. They were weapons, the villages needed weapons. If Sasuke was to be seen as a hero...

"Eh maybe. But you know? In those memories some people have heard about Madara, from what I heard at least."

Oh yes, Sasuke had known about Madara as well. In fact he had set out to kill... no, Sasuke had no idea Madara even existed... Itachi refilled his cup and stared into the depths of it's contents.

"I've got some interesting memories as well, just so you know." Kisame seemed largely unconcerned, at least going by his tone. Itachi looked up, ignoring his own troubles for now, maybe focusing on Kisame's would distract him.

"Hmm?" His partner, though not his friend, didn't look nearly as unconcerned as he sounded. Little signs mostly a tiny flicker of the eyes. The slightest twitch of the mouth.

"Got some memories as well." Kisame stared into his cup. "We fail, every single time. I have no idea how many times I've seen it now, but Akatsuki fails again and again."

Itachi didn't smirk, even though the thought gave him some pleasure, a constant stream of failure sounded very good, at least as far as Akatsuki was concerned.

"Though sometimes we fail more spectacular." Kisame leaned his head to the side. "Or should that count as Orochimaru's failure?" He shrugged. "Probably, then again not as if we managed to start the end of the world once or twice."

Huh, who knew, you could loose that feeling incredibly fast again as well.

"It's disconcerting you know? That feeling of inevitable loss." Kisame continued. "But... what I find the most interesting is how often you try to betray us. Not that I didn't fully expect that of course, I mean you are a spy for Konoha, aren't you?"

Itachi sighed, grabbed the cup and downed it in one shot. What the hell? Might as well break a rule or two. The world had decided to go mad, why couldn't he?

"Yes." He grunted after the alcohol burned it's way down his throat. Why anybody would want to drink this stuff. A slow warmth spread around his stomach. Not too bad, but not really worth the pain.

"Yeah, so you betraying us isn't that much of a surprise. Maybe how often Madara manages to twist your brother into joining us... but then with the way you break him..." A raised eyebrow.

Itachi refilled the cup, slowly looking up at Kisame. "How often... how often does he defect? In those... memories I mean."

Kisame leaned back, watching the ceiling. "Depends, but I think at least every time you break his mind again. As long as he has Orochimaru's seal at least. If he doesn't have that? Depends on some other factors. But I don't know anything about them."

Itachi closed his eyes, he felt so tired, so god damn tired. "Why tell me?"

"Cause if Sasuke is in Akatsuki he screws it up. If he goes to Orochimaru he either ends up in Akatsuki or screws it up even worse. I want a chance to remake this world, to make it work, no more lies."

Itachi's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why tell me?"

"You are dying aren't you? I figure I let you save your brother keep him out of Akatsuki and out of Orochimaru's hands, then kill you myself. Your brother stays out of our way, mostly. You can die happy and I can have a good try at my dream."

Itachi stared at the man in front of him. It didn't make sense not really. But if Kisame had been affected enough by these memories... he might just be insane, he didn't just have one set. One set that showed you every mistake you ever made, showed you every mistake your father made, every mistake your entire family made. He hated the Uchiha! Hated them with a passion. Hated the way they brought him up, hated the way he couldn't escape that upbringing. He pushed off the table, ignoring the sake in front of him. Hated the way he couldn't bring himself to take another drink, because it would have broken the rules.

"Let's go then. If we hurry we can have this over with in a week."

Kisame nodded and pushed off the table as well. "Yeah, this is giving me a headache."

-o-

Kakashi jumped from tree to tree, looking for everything and nothing. The Hokage had sent him to patrol the outskirts of Konoha. Usually a task for chunin, but with a potential invasion force amassing it seemed prudent to have Kakashi do the rounds. Never mind that it gave him a chance to clear his mind.

Since his cute little genin had dropped the explosive note about being from parallel worlds and since the Hokage revealed that the worlds seemed to fuse, Kakashi had been on edge. He feared the memories, the mere possibility of loosing himself to another Kakashi. The memory thing hadn't seemed so bad at the start, just gain the memories of another Kakashi, gain another perspective. But he had watched Anko carefully, she certainly didn't seem like Anko anymore. She seemed happier, much more so, actually happy might be more accurate.

There were still traces of the Anko he knew there, sarcasm and lot's of it. Confidence and little shame. But for everything that remained the same he could point to a hundred little things that had changed about her. Just like that, she had become somebody different.

And it scared him, scared him more than he admitted to anybody. To loose one's self, to loose what made you... you. With his genin it was much worse, they didn't seem to care, or maybe they just didn't think about it, but they essentially killed themselves. Actually he felt certain that Sakura didn't care. If she had fought in a real war, then she would almost certainly have done some things that made killing a weak genin look like nothing.

The other two? Who knew, they seemed smart, but they also seemed good at ignoring what they didn't like, didn't want to admit to themselves.

He didn't want to loose himself, to forget Obito, the sacrifice he made. Or to consider it less important. He stopped on a tree and leaned against the rough bark.

He just felt so helpless. And he knew the Hokage felt the same. They just had no idea how to stop this. How to prevent it from happening. How to even find out how to stop it. He took a deep breath and tried to banished all thoughts about it. This had chewed at him since team seven had gone on their quest to recruit Tsunade. And he hadn't come to any solution so far.

He doubted Tsunade would have a solution either. How could she? This simply fell outside her area of expertise. Hell, this fell outside the area of expertise of everybody he knew. The closest thing to an expert they had was Sakura and that said it all, since she didn't have an idea about what was happening either.

"Ahh, back home, finally!" He heard a loud voice, definitely belonging to Naruto, only he would be that loud.

There might have been an answer, but if there was, Kakashi couldn't hear it.

A small smile crept over his face and he fell down and approached the returning group.

As he came closer he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. They all had changed clothes, gone were the vibrant colors, or the dark blue of Sasuke. Instead they all wore cheap, and drab pants and shirts, even Jirayia and Kakashi knew how that man liked to stand out.

Shizune's clothes had been cut up considerably as well. He could see cut's and blood on everybody else as well. Only Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be untouched, though that could probably be attributed to shadow-clones and the fact that Sasuke needed help moving an thus couldn't fight.

Kakashi grabbed his book, opened it at a random page and approached the weary group. He frowned a bit behind his mask. To be in this state they would have to be attacked fairly close. And to scratch Jirayia and Tsunade they would have to be pretty good as well.

"Hey, god to see you return so soon." Maybe they would find a way to stop this... whatever.

"Good to be back captain." Sakura smiled at him, genuine too.

He turned to Tsunade and gave a small bow. "It's good to see you too Tsunade. Konoha needs you."

"Don't I know it? But if the old fool thinks he can lean back he's got another thing coming for him. He's still alive so he better help me find my way around here." Tsunade answered hotly.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, she seemed more irritable than he had expected. Then again, with the way they looked she probably had her reasons.

"When I find out who's behind this..."

The kids looked at each other and shrugged. "Madara?" Sasuke asked, earning him nods from Naruto and Sakura. "Madara."

"So, you are saying he wanted the world to be plunged into chaos of this level to make it easier for him to take over?" Tsunade snorted.

"Well... his plans can go wrong you know?" Naruto defended their position.

Jirayia shook his head. "They can, I'm sure. But that's not the point, we can't know for sure that it's him. Even though it does make a certain amount of sense. But we'll need to find out for sure, before we commit any forces to this."

"In any case, I would say you guys go in, get some rest and clean up, then go and talk to the Hokage. I'm sure he'll be happy to talk to you." Kakashi said.

-o-

Sasuke stretched slowly as he walked out of his house, after a bath, a good meal and some sleep he felt almost up to running again. Still, walking seemed to be the better option for now.

Being sick sucked, being infected by a sickness like, whatever the hell that had been sucked even more. Much more.

"Glad that's over with." He muttered.

"Sasuke, you're back!" Ino chirped happily. As she latched onto his arm.

He grinned back at her. "Yeah, just came back in fact." He stumbled slightly and fell into her. "Still a bit weak though." He muttered, enjoying the way she caught him.

"What happened? I haven't seen Sakura yet. And well, she's kinda weird anyway."

Sighing Sasuke straightened himself. "Well, you noticed that we kinda disappeared at the end of the exam?"

"Yeah, but then the exam has been chancelled. Too much weird stuff happening in the village... too many weird memories." Ino frowned slightly.

"Exactly. We were send to get somebody to deal with it... though I kinda doubt she has all that many ideas on how to do that exactly either."

"Ugh, then what's the point of it?"

"We have a Hokage who isn't standing with one foot in the grave?" Sasuke asked. "And since she's younger, which means she can work more and faster."

"Oh, that's just mean." Ino smirked.

"But true! I'm just looking out for the Hokage. He's gotta slow down, he's admitting it himself even!"

"Maybe." Ino looked around. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Eh, first I'll have to go to the debriefing with my team. Then? Probably relax a bit more. Got kinda hurt on the mission and need to recover."

And a date with Ino sounded kinda nice. Good food, good company, if a bit clingy, what's not to like?

"Oh, going to find Tenten then?" Ino asked, in that tone that spelled danger very clearly.

The problem of course being that he had no idea what Ino wanted to hear. She could want him to say that Tenten meant nothing. Or she could want him to say she meant something. Girls were kinda weird that way.

"Eh, maybe? Flirting with her is fun. Just like flirting with you is fun." Probably best to tell the truth and inform them that this wasn't anything serious, at least for now.

"Heh, good answer. Doesn't make you look like a two timing jerk at least." Ino seemed to accept it too. "So who do you like better?" Or did she?

He narrowed his eyes at her. "It's just for fun and I'm not answering that question... where would be the fun in that?"

"Spoilsport." Ino stuck out her tongue at him. Only to lose her good cheer a second later.

"By the way, what about Sakura?" Ino grimaced slightly. "How's she doing?"

Sighing he watched the street in front of him. "Could be better, could be worse. We are making progress though. Slowly."

"Progress?" Ino frowned at him, clearly expecting an explanation.

"Well, you know how she's so weird? Naruto and me are trying to... well make it better. Make her stop drinking so much, or at all really."

Ino blinked. "Yes, I can see how that would be a good idea." She seemed to look off into the distance. "Though maybe..." She shook her head. "Anyway, if you two are looking into it, the least I can do is help. Even if this will be kinda weird, especially after those dreams."

She muttered the last part, almost too quiet for Sasuke to make out, almost. So, she had remembered something as well, probably from the same place Sakura came from. Might be good, might be bad.

"So, I still have some time before I need to see the new Hokage, how about some food?" He smiled at her.

Ino looked back a finger on her lips as if in though. A second later she nodded. "Sure!"

-o-

Naruto stood at attention before Tsunade, beside him Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi stood a bit behind them and Jirayia and Shizune had taken position in front of them, beside Tsunade. The old man had disappeared, probably getting some decent rest or something.

"So, to recap. You three are from different worlds." Having taken over the bodies of those who lived here and effectively killed them, Naruto added to himself. "Others are too, some from major villages, some from minor villages." Tsunade said.

"Even those who aren't like you remember, in dreams or just like that, the other worlds. Oh and we have objects and probably animals coming through as well, in increasing frequency." She stared at each of them in turn.

"We have no idea what causes it, or how to stop it. And you three are our only real leads. Sakura is our only expert and she knows next to nothing." With a sigh she slumped back into her chair. "Oh and the old man disappeared the second I stepped into his office."

"Do we have any good news?" Sasuke asked.

"No invasion from Orochimaru. The exam has been called off, on account of too much weird stuff happening. All the villages agreed they would have to sort it out before this little wargame could commence."

"That's something, right?" Sasuke tried to smile.

"I suppose, that still leaves us with a rather large problem. What are we going to do?" Tsunade looked at Jirayia and them, Kakashi and Shizune were curiously ignored.

Though Naruto supposed he could understand that. Tsunade knew Shizune well enough that she didn't need to ask her opinion. And Kakashi had no more experience with stuff like this than the average ninja on the street. As she had pointed out, he and the rest of team seven had the best idea of what could have caused it. And Jirayia might know something thanks to his seals.

"I think it's fairly obvious that somebody did something to make this world... merge with the others, making it easy for people like those three to cross over." Jirayia spoke up first. "How exactly did you cross over.

They looked at each other. "Well, the Sharingan pretty much allowed us to do that. Don't ask me how, it just did... well the sharingan and the Kyuubi." Naruto explained.

"The Kyuubi is just the power source. It's not really needed to breach the gap. Madara didn't have access to it where I came from. He still needed to boost his own chakra reserves considerably to pull it off though." Sakura threw in.

Tsunade nodded. "So we are back at where we started. You think Madara's behind this. Whether because he planed it, or because he screwed up."

They shrugged, seemed reasonable to Naruto.

"And since I have no better idea I'm inclined to agree. Still, we need proof, or we are going on a wild goose chase. The old man handed over some maps and interrogation protocols. We know where his bases are, probably. We didn't have time yet to confirm it, but it seems that has just become a priority, it's our only lead so far. I'd like to send you guys to investigate it. No fighting unless it's absolutely necessary."

Naruto nodded eagerly. A chance at a rematch!

"Umm... are you sure this is a good idea? We are talking about Madara here." Kakashi pointed out, shifting uneasily.

"And the rest of Akatsuki." Added Shizune, leafing through the pages in front of her.

"Hardly. Most of Akatsuki is out and about, searching for the Jinchuriki. They aren't in a position to help Madara out. Also, if you know somebody else who can go toe to toe with him, I'm all ears." Tsunade looked at her apprentice.

Shizune quickly backed down.

"Only one flaw with your plan. We probably can't go toe to toe with him. Even against Orochimaru we couldn't really do all that much. Our chakra reserves are just too limited, well mine and Sasuke's are. Naruto might have enough, but he's gonna need the kyuubi. And the way he is now..."

Sakura trailed off and looked away from him.

He shrugged. "Can't say I disagree. There's stuff I need to take care off, before I can use the full power of the kyuubi." Stuff like talking to his other self, trapped inside his own head because an imposter decided to take over his head.

Tsunade sighed. "I agree, it's risky. It doesn't change the facts though. You guys are the strongest weapon we have against Madara, even as limited as you are. I wouldn't send you alone of course. Gai, Kakashi and Jirayia would accompany you." She grinned. "Consider yourself advisers of sort. You are there to tell them how to fight him and as backup." She looked at them. "The adults will fight him. If you see an opening you'll take it. He'll dismiss you initially, since he won't know just how strong you guys really are."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. He's surprisingly well informed." Sakura threw in.

"Can he be surprised?"

"I... yes, yes he can be surprised. It's not easy though."

"Do you think he'll expect genin to be a danger to him? Especially genin as young as you?"

"Actually we are special jonin." Naruto pointed out. He had reached that status pretty damn fast here, and he would be damned if he didn't point it out.

"And how many people do you think know about that? It's not exactly been told to many people." Tsunade snorted. "Hell, I didn't know about it until you mentioned it just now."

"Well, I suppose." Naruto shrugged, not as if he could say much about it.

"I thought we couldn't send out any significant force?" Kakashi pointed up, face buried in his book.

"I changed my mind. Whether he is behind this or not. We can't risk him being affected by it. If he has the knowledge of some of his other versions... I don't want to think about the consequences."

Naruto could feel the shiver run over his back. He could see the others shiver as well.

"What about the rest of Akatsuki? It's pretty much the same with them, depending on their exposure to... whatever." Sakura pointed out. She looked at Sasuke. "What about Itachi? The guy is extremely dangerous. If he has any dreams, or memories, he might be even more dangerous."

"If we take Gai, Kakashi and Jirayia we are seriously weakening the village in case one of them shows up." Sasuke agreed, neatly ignoring the part of Itachi being out to get him. But from what Naruto had seen Sasuke could be just as good as repressing what he didn't want to acknowledge as Naruto himself.

"I know, but from what I remember, even at their worst their goals were rather simple. And none of them planned to bring down Konoha specifically. I would say the risk is rather low that they are planning anything major against us." Tsunade looked at them all. "Only Orochimaru might be a danger in that regard and he's too cautious to try anything now."

"So we go out and try to bring down Madara." Naruto asked to make sure, he didn't like it very much. On the other hand he couldn't say he had a better idea. This time he had Sasuke on his side after all. Sasuke, Sakura, Gai, Kakashi and Jirayia. That should be enough to do something about the bastard, right?

"Yes, the faster you do that, the better."

"What if it's not him, or if killing him doesn't stop it?" Kakashi sounded as if he didn't really care. He didn't fool anybody.

"Then you come back and we think of something new." Tsunade countered. "But if you have a better idea, I'm all ears!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nope, just thought I would ask."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, but let it slide. "Alright. You have your orders. Collect your gear and hurry up. We can't afford to wait any longer. I'll try to keep Konoha together in the meantime." She looked out of the window. "And the rest of the country too."

-o-

Kabuto smiled as he watched the little meeting. So, they would meet up with a Madara desperately scrambling to end his little experiment. An experiment he had utterly lost control over. In more ways than one.

He cocked his head to the side. Would he managed to hold on long enough to stop the rift from forming?

Ahh, this could be so much fun.

Especially since this world had gone through a similar catastrophe before, at least on a destructive scale, if not the same nonsensical way. He should be able to have quite a bit of fun with that.

He looked at the group scrambling on the ground, getting to their homes to collect their weapons.

Seeing them succeed could be fun too. Well, he would have to wait and see, wouldn't he?

-o-

Well, so much for a one chapter a week schedule huh?

Anyway, thanks to Mass Effect, Civ 5 and a bad case of writers block this took a good while longer than planed and I don't think it will improve in the future, so no more planned schedule for me, unless I actually manage to post several Fridays in a row.

Hope you like the chapter.


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